Rabbi Yissachar Dov Ber of Radoshitz – Saba Kadisha of Radoshitz

Rabbi Yissachar Dov Ber ben Yitzchak of Radoshitz – Saba Kadisha (1765–1843), a disciple of the Seer of Lublin, the Holy Jew of Peshischa, the Maggid of Kozhnitz, and Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Heschel of Apta. He said: "I served 120 Baalei Ruach HaKodesh (possessors of the Holy Spirit)." Yahrzeit - 18 Sivan Resting place - Radoshitz, Poland Even as a child, it was clear that he was unique. At the age of 7, he immersed in the mikveh every day. He did this in secret, as he did not want people to know about it or follow his example. A friend of his noticed this and began accompanying him to the mikveh. One day it was very cold, and despite young Yissachar's warnings, his friend immersed as usual. He came down with pneumonia and was on the verge of death. When Yissachar heard about this, he shut himself in the attic of his house and asked the Al-mighty to heal his friend. He wept until he had filled a plate with his tears. He then dipped a piece of sugar in the tears and gave it to his friend to suck on, and he recovered completely. For most of his life he served as Av Beit Din in Radoshitz. He was well known as an outstanding Talmid Chacham, thoroughly versed in every area of Torah. He was called the second Baal Shem Tov. (the "Tiferet Shlomo" of Radomsk)   Sipurei Tzadikim Apples It was told that the Radoshitzer would make a cream from the apples left over from the Rosh Hashanah seudah, and after reciting the "Yehi Ratzon" prayer, would anoint the sick with it and heal them. He was well known for being able to tell whether wine was yayin nesech (defiled, impure wine) simply by looking at the bottle or touching it. The "Tiferet Shlomo" once said to his chassidim: "I will show you what the word Rebbe means." During a trip to Radoshitz, the non-Jewish driver asked for some wine to warm up. One of the chassidim reluctantly gave him a new bottle of wine. He drank from it and returned the half-empty bottle. The Radomsker Rebbe had it filled up with wine and sealed. On Friday evening, this bottle of wine was placed on Saba Kadisha's table. Saba Kadisha immediately asked his gabbai to remove it, since it was impure wine. The "Tiferet Shlomo" smiled knowingly. Bitachon There is a story about Rebbe Yissachar Dov Ber of Radoshitz that serves as tremendous chizuk in bitachon for us in our daily lives. Before his name became known throughout the world, he lived from day to day, not knowing how he would survive tomorrow. He endured through pure bitachon. One day his wife suggested an idea that might help them out of their troubles. In a nearby town lived a wealthy woman named Temerl. She was a wealthy woman who supported many of the townspeople. His wife suggested that he go to Temerl and ask her for financial support. He agreed to the idea. The next day, however, by the time he finished Shacharit and his Torah study, it was already too late to make the more-than-six-hour journey. This same scene repeated itself the next day, and the day after that. When his wife noticed that he was avoiding the trip, he exclaimed: "According to you, Temerl supports almost the whole town. The only ones she doesn't support are the two of us. If Temerl can support a whole crowd of people, surely HaKadosh Baruch Hu can support the two of us." His words came true. Aside from being known for his unique ability to see things the human eye could not see and the mind could not grasp, he was known for his deep understanding of people's hardships. He often comforted a troubled soul with words of encouragement. Saba Kadisha lived in poverty and never accepted charity for himself. He would travel to the homes of righteous men in the surrounding area, whom he called "the 120 possessors of the holy spirit," and offered them every kind of assistance. He used to say: "I served 120 Baalei Ruach HaKodesh." After the passing of the Rabbi of Apta in 1815, he took on the title of Admor of Radoshitz. He possessed an astonishing ability to work wonders, for which the chassidim nicknamed him the Holy Grandfather (Saba Kadisha). Excerpts from his teachings, along with stories of his life and miraculous powers, are collected in the book "Niflaot Saba Kadisha" (Wonders of the Holy Grandfather). He was a disciple of the Chozeh (Seer) of Lublin and once said to his teacher: "Show me the primary path of serving G-d." His teacher answered: "It is impossible to tell people which path to choose. One path is through study, another through prayer, a third through fasting, and another through eating. Everyone must find the path that is close to his heart, choose it, and devote his strength to it."   The Chozeh of Lublin's Clock Counting the minutes, Rabbi Yissachar Ber of Radoshitz was traveling through the villages. Night fell, the roads were becoming unsafe, and so he told his driver to stop at the first Jewish inn they came across. Soon they stopped at a small Jewish tavern. The owner greeted them warmly and prepared a special room for Rabbi Yissachar, one reserved for traveling rabbis and noblemen. After the evening prayer, Rabbi Yissachar went to his room and went to sleep, tired from the long journey. Soon the house grew quiet. Only the occasional barking of a peasant's dog broke the silence. And yet the clock on the wall ticked in the most peculiar way, keeping the Rabbi from sleeping. He tossed and turned in bed, and finally got up and began pacing the room. Verses from the Book of the Prophets filled his mind, songs of redemption and hope. He tried to lie down again, but the clock kept ticking until it was time for him to rise. So he spent the whole night pacing in restless anticipation. In the morning, the cheerful Rabbi approached the innkeeper: "Where did you get that clock in the room?" "The clock? Well, a few years ago another rabbi stayed in that room - Reb Yosef of Lublin, son of the tzadik, the Chozeh of Lublin. He came for one night, but the weather was terrible and he had to stay several days. In the end, he realized he didn't have enough money to pay his bill, so he made up the difference by giving me this clock. He said he had inherited it from his father." "Now I understand why I couldn't fall asleep. Every clock in the world brings sadness, because it counts down the hours remaining - here is another day lost, another opportunity gone. But the holy Chozeh of Lublin's clock counts the time ahead - here is another minute closer to redemption, another second closer to the age of universal peace."   A Holy Argument Between In-Laws One of the sons of the holy Rebbe Yissachar Dov Ber of Radoshitz got married. The chuppah was set up and everyone was ready, when the Rebbe realized that he and his in-law - another holy rabbi - had not yet "fulfilled" what the Talmudic sages said, that no wedding agreement is complete without an argument! (Indeed, it is believed that such an argument has a mystical power to help the couple succeed!) So the Rebbe began to argue with his mechutan. But this holy rabbi did not argue the way most people argue, to raise himself to the heavens while lowering and pushing the other into the mud. Instead, he argued differently. He said to his mechutan: "How could a pious man like you, who knows the Torah inside and out, ever think of arranging a marriage with a lowly ignoramus like myself?!" He went on to say so many self-deprecating things about himself that the person who recorded this story could not even print them. When his mechutan heard all these humbling words spoken by Rabbi Yissachar, and saw him lower himself to the ground, the other rabbi, also a relative, began to argue back and said: "How can you say such things about yourself? Are you a liar?! In fact, all these lowly things you say about yourself - they're really about me! I am so much lower than you, it's such a shame!" The Shepherd's Blessing "Rebbe," said a chassid who was himself a rabbi, to Reb Yissachar, "you know that my wife and I have been childless for many years. I have come for your blessing. I will not move from this spot until you promise to help me." "It is not I who should help you," the Rebbe answered, "but there is someone in your village who can - a shepherd. Go to him and ask for his blessing. If he refuses you with excuses, tell him that I sent you to him, and that he must help you." The rabbi returned home, confident that his salvation lay through the shepherd. To his horror, he found Chananel drunk, wandering the street, with village boys throwing stones and mud at him. Eventually he collapsed by the roadside and fell into a drunken sleep. "This happens every time - as soon as he's paid, he spends it all on drink, and eventually ends up in some gutter," a man explained to him, as the rabbi stood waiting for the shepherd to wake up. The rabbi had complete faith in Rabbi Yissachar and stood there all night. After a while the shepherd lifted his head and looked around. "Why are you standing here?" he asked the rabbi. "I am waiting for you to bless me - I have no children." The shepherd burst out laughing: "What! A rabbi wants a drunken shepherd to bless him? Not the other way around? Who sent you to me?" he asked. "The Radoshitzer Rebbe sent me for your blessing," said the rabbi. At these words the shepherd grew serious: "Very well, I will bless you on one condition. You must keep this secret." The rabbi nodded: "You must stay silent whenever you see village children throwing mud and stones at me or insulting me. Do not come to my aid in any way." The rabbi nodded again. The shepherd blessed him, and a year later the rabbi's wife bore him a child. When the child grew up and went to school, he joined the village boys who threw stones at the shepherd. When his father heard of this, he was embarrassed, but could not punish him, because he had promised the shepherd. When it became known that this shepherd, known by the name Rabbi Elchanan, had died, Rabbi Yissachar delivered a magnificent eulogy in his honor and revealed to the villagers his merits and the fact that he had been a hidden tzadik. Saba Kadisha used to tell how he received strength and wisdom from Heaven: - Wherever I was, I avoided contact with impurity, performed netilat yadayim every morning in accordance with halacha, and took care to keep my soul pure. In the town of Zlatopol, Saba Kadisha served as a shamash in the synagogue and became famous for his extraordinary deeds. He would visit the sick Jews of the town and treat them with tinctures made of special herbs. He did this not for money or fame, but for the sake of Heaven, to save the lives of his fellow Jews and help them return to the good path, back to Torah. He helped many, many people. But Saba Kadisha was especially concerned about sick children. He knew that a child's health depended on the mother's conduct - whether or not she observed the laws pertaining to Jewish women. It was not always possible to save the life of a child cared for by a mother in a state of nidda. He gave the children his remedies, spoke with the women, and urged them to live according to the laws of the Torah, otherwise no treatment would help. Every night, after midnight, Saba Kadisha would immerse in the town's mikveh - summer and winter, even when the water was very, very cold. There was only one mikveh in the town, and the water was heated for Shabbat or when some woman needed to immerse. But he came at midnight and immersed in the cold water. What troubled him, however, was that he had to sneak into the mikveh through a small window near the ceiling. If the women found out, they would raise an outcry and shame him, since men rarely immersed there, let alone at night. But one day, at the very moment Saba Kadisha climbed up to the window on a ladder, the caretaker caught him, pulled him down by his coat, and shouted: - If I see you near the mikveh again, I'll break your bones! The caretaker decided the man must be crazy - after all, no normal person would climb into cold water in winter! Saba Kadisha began to beg the caretaker to open the doors of the mikveh. He offered him money, more than the man earned in a whole month, but the caretaker refused to listen. He simply could not understand what would drive a person to climb into cold water. - Listen, - said Saba Kadisha, - I will pay you every month, equal to your wages, if you let me into the mikveh every night. The caretaker was astonished: - What does this foolish man want? Who knows what's on his mind, or what he might do in there at night… Seeing that he could not persuade the stubborn caretaker, Saba Kadisha said: - If you give me your hand and swear that as long as you live you will not reveal the secret, I will do for you a kindness that you dare not even imagine. The caretaker grew curious, agreed, and held out his right hand. - If only you knew, - said Saba Kadisha, - that I could reduce you to ashes with a single word, or turn your bones to dust; yet I would much rather do good for you. In return, every night you will unlock the mikveh doors for me. - You have a grown daughter, - he continued, - who suddenly went blind several years ago. I know that you and your wife grieve over her - it is time to marry her off, but who would take a blind girl… I will pray in the mikveh for Heaven to heal her and restore her sight. At sunrise she will see again, and will jump and dance and kiss her mother, her father, and her relatives. So it will be. But you must tell no one about me. Swear it! The caretaker listened and did not believe it: - Can this be true? Is it a trick, or deception? Still, who knows about this strange man. It's worth testing. Let's see what happens tomorrow. And he gave him the key to the mikveh. In the morning, at sunrise, a great commotion arose in the caretaker's house. The blind girl rose from her bed able to see. She jumped, danced, sang, and kissed everyone she saw. The whole town was abuzz with the news, but no one except the girl's father knew the reason for the miraculous healing. A year later the caretaker fell seriously ill. Feeling that he was dying, he revealed the secret to the family and friends gathered around him: - Saba Kadisha is a great tzadik, one of the hidden righteous ones who sustain the world. It is unthinkable for such a man to be a shamash - show him honor… The man died, and news of Saba Kadisha spread instantly among the Jewish communities. The sick and the suffering came to him from every direction, and all found healing. One day people came from a distant Jewish shtetl in Ukraine, saw him, and said: Why, this is the son-in-law of our shochet and menaker, Rabbi Chaim! After that, the whole Jewish world knew of this wonder-working tzadik. The people of Zlatopol were deeply embarrassed that only recently they had made this tzadik do menial labor and had laughed at him. Now they were ashamed. But Saba Kadisha, too, understood that he could no longer stay there; it was time to move on to another place, where no one knew him. To everyone's surprise, he disappeared. For eight years he moved from town to town, farther and farther from those places. He eventually arrived at a town with a large Jewish population, though not all of them were pious. He healed them and brought them back to the path of Torah. He lived there for another forty-two years.   The Rosh Chodesh Meal Saba Kadisha taught: "It is written in the Talmud that in the time of the Temple, the altar atoned for sins. In our time, a person's table is like an altar, and it has been given the power to cleanse one of guilt for transgressions. And the Mishnah in tractate Shevuot states explicitly that in the time of the Temple, the Rosh Chodesh offerings atoned for the sin of those who, unaware that they were in a state of ritual impurity, ate their portion of the sacrifices. That is why chassidim pay special attention to the Rosh Chodesh meal".   A Special Segula on the Tzadik's Yahrzeit On the tzadik's yahrzeit, one prays for salvation from financial hardship, legal proceedings, and deadlocked situations. The great miracle-worker Saba Kadisha (may his merit protect us) said before his passing: "A day will come when people will ask for salvation and hear no answer, yet will be saved." Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (may his merit protect us) teaches that tzedakah is a remedy for all illnesses, and that by giving tzedakah bezchut a tzadik who possesses humility, a Jew immediately receives a blessing. One should light a candle while saying: "Areini madlikah ner l'ilui nishmat Rabbeinu Yissachar Ber ben Rabbi Yitzchak." Prayer "L'shem yichud Kudsha Brich Hu u'Shechinteih, bidchilu u'rechimu, l'yachada sheim ot "Yud", ot "Hei", ot "Vav" ve'ot "Hei" b'yichudah shleim, b'sheim kol Yisrael." "Areini notein schum l'tzedakah avur Rabbeinu Yissachar Ber ben Rabbi Yitzchak sach 19 perutot l'tovat achzakat u'shmirat ha'ohel hakayam she'al kivro u'veit chayim b'ir Radoshitz." (I am giving an amount to the tzedakah fund, in the merit of Rabbeinu Yissachar Ber ben Rabbi Yitzchak, in the sum of 19 perutot, for the full upkeep of the beit chaim - the burial place - in the town of Radoshitz.) Give tzedakah of 19 perutot (coins) l'kavod Saba Kadisha, and recite the verse from Sefer Devarim (32:28): - "Ki goy oved eitzot heimah, ve'ein bahem tevunah" - (for they are a nation void of counsel, and there is no understanding in them). The gematria of the word "goy" (nation) = 19. "Y'hi ratzon milfanecha, Ado-nai Elo-heinu vE-lohei avoteinu, k'shem she-shamata et tefilat ha'tzadik hazeh hitzalta oto mikol tzara v'tzuka v'asita imo nisim v'niflaot g'luyim v'nistarim, ken bizchuto t'hi na sha'at v'et ratzon milfanecha imadi (insert your name here) nisim g'luyim v'nistarim v'hatzileinu mikol tzara v'tzuka me'atah v'ad olam. Ekra l'Elokim Elyon, la'Kel gomeir alai. Aneini Ado-nai ki eilecha ekra kol hayom, ezreinu Elokei yish'einu al d'var k'vod sh'mecha, v'hatzileinu v'chaper chatoteinu l'ma'an sh'mecha. Aseh l'ma'an sh'mecha, aseh l'ma'an y'minecha, aseh l'ma'an Toratecha, aseh l'ma'an k'dushatecha. Yih'yu l'ratzon imrei fi v'higayon libi l'fanecha, Ado-nai tzuri v'go'ali"! Translation May it be Your will, Creator of the Universe, G-d of our forefathers. Just as You hear the prayer of this tzadik, who saves from every trouble and hardship, and perform for Your people wonders and marvels, revealed and hidden, so too, in his merit, may there be an hour of Your favor, wonders revealed and hidden, and may You save us from evil and troubles forever and ever. We call out to the Creator of the Universe, who deals with our enemies! Answer me, G-d, for I call out to You every day for Your help, for our salvation, for the exaltation of the glory of Your Name, and for our deliverance, and forgive our sins for the sake of Your Name. Do this for the sake of Your Name, do this for the sake of Your right hand, do this for the sake of Your Torah, do this for the sake of Your holiness. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable before You, G-d, my Rock and my Redeemer! Money can be transferred, at the exchange rate, to an organization that maintains the tzadik's grave: (https://radashitz.org/category/segulas; based on the book "Tales of the Hasidim" by Martin Buber)