17 Shevat · Yahrzeit
Rabbi Moshe Katz of Kitov - talmid of the Baal Shem Tov
Rabbi Moshe ben Menachem Mendel Katz of Kitov (Kuty) - talmid of the Baal Shem Tov (1738)
Yahrzeit - 17 Shevat
Resting place - Kuty, Ukraine
It is well known that the Baal Shem Tov spent seven years in the mountains between Kuty and Kosov; it was here that his teachings crystallized.
The most famous Jew from Kuty was Rabbi Avraham Gershon of Kitov, the brother-in-law of the Baal Shem Tov and a founder of Chassidism.
The first known rabbi from Kuty was Rabbi Moshe of Kitov.
At first he rejected the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov, but in time he accepted them.
He was a hidden tzadik (tzadik nistar).
He instituted a custom in his town not to bury a Jew in his tallit, following one incident.
On one of the nights of Yom Kippur, when there were so many worshippers in the synagogue that people could not move, Rabbi Moshe ordered everyone to remove their tallitot, and everyone immediately felt relief.
It later became clear that the dead, buried in their tallitot, were troubling the living and causing the crowding.
He passed away in 1738 and was buried in Kuty. It was he who drew many followers to Chassidism from Kuty, Kosov, and Vizhnitz.
May the merit of the tzadik protect Am Yisrael!