19 Kislev · Yahrzeit
Yahrzeit/Hillula of Rabbi Dov Ber of Mezeritch
Rabbi Dov Ber ben Avraham was born in the town of Lukach near Rovno in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. His father's name was Avrum. According to family tradition, he was descended from the line of King David. He worked as a melamed. He devoted all his free time to the study of Talmud and was also interested in Kabbalah, as a result of which he became withdrawn, stern, and gloomy.
Constant fasting (sometimes “from Shabbat to Shabbat”) wore down his body and left him extremely frail.
He lived in great poverty and supported his family only through meager earnings from preaching. He also possessed a gift for speech and knew how to speak passionately and engagingly. The nickname “Maggid” stayed with him for the rest of his life.
Already a mature man, Dov Ber became acquainted with Rabbi Baal Shem Tov, in whom he at first saw only a healer. However, the Baal Shem Tov healed not only his body but also his soul. He explained to the learned preacher the true meaning of certain points of practical Kabbalah and, finally, revealed to him his own teaching, which indeed contained something new and astonishing for a man who had considered it his duty to constantly wear himself down, mortify his body, and grieve over his sins in a gloomy state of mind. He accepted the Besht's teaching and soon, having reworked it within himself and adding his own elements to it, began to spread it to the world.
After the passing of the Besht (Baal Shem Tov), Dov Ber was elected head of the Hasidic movement in 1760. Unlike the Besht, whom the true rabbis did not respect for his overly simple nature and “lack of learning,” Dov Ber, during his lifetime, enjoyed a reputation in the rabbinic world as an outstanding Talmudist and kabbalist — which, combined with his renown as the supreme leader of the Hasidim, attracted a great many learned men to him.
He soon moved his residence from Medzhybizh to Mezeritch, where he lived almost without leaving for more than twelve years.
In contrast to the Besht, who led a largely wandering life, constantly traveling among towns, shtetls, and villages, Dov Ber led a completely settled way of life. The institution of emissaries, who played a very important role in the history of Hasidism, was entirely Dov Ber's invention. Being unable, due to his illness, to travel himself and spread the teaching, Ber sent out energetic people who were deeply devoted to him to various cities in order to seek followers and draw crowds of visitors to Mezeritch. As a result of this activity, masses of people flocked in from everywhere. All week long Dov Ber did not leave his room, which only his closest disciples were permitted to enter, but on Shabbat he would appear at the communal prayer dressed in white, even wearing shoes of white leather, because according to Kabbalah white is the symbol of mercy. After the prayer, Dov Ber would hold a communal meal for all who wished to attend, and then he would ask each person present to recite some passage from the Torah. These passages, drawn from different places, he would weave together into a single whole in his sermon, and every guest would find, in the part of the sermon relating to the passage he had chosen, an answer to the problems that troubled him and required wise counsel.
The Maggid passed away in December 1772 and was buried in Annopol, where the grave of his disciple Zusha of Annopol is also located. He left behind a son — later known as the tzadik Avraham HaMalach — and numerous disciples who would go on to play a significant role in the further history of Hasidism.
The Baal Shem Tov once said to Rabbi Chaim of Krasna about the Maggid of Mezeritch:
“When the Maggid came to me, he was already pure, a golden menorah. All that was needed was to light the candles...”.
Pidyon Nefesh (redemption of the soul) according to the Maggid of Mezeritch
The pious Rabbi Yosef of Zhornishche, known as Rabbi Yosef the Melamed, resided in the town of Ilyintsy.
Rabbi Yosef regularly held other people's money in trust, and the money of the aforementioned rabbi was likewise held by another Rabbi Yosef. At that time there was a change of coinage, and a dispute arose over this, and Rabbi Yosef said: “Let us go to the Maggid, and let him judge between us.” He and that rabbi's wife came to the Maggid, and he helped them settle the matter peacefully.
The rabbi's wife went home, while Rabbi Yosef remained with the Maggid. The Maggid said to Rabbi Yosef: “This rabbi's wife's days are numbered.”
The next day her labor pains began, and she realized that she could not give birth, so she sent for Rabbi Yosef.
She said to him: “Do me a kindness, your honor, go to the Maggid so that he may perform a pidyon nefesh for me.”
For she had heard what the Maggid had said.
He said to her: “If you give me the key to the chest, so that I may take as much money as I wish, then I will go; but if not, I will not go.”
She gave him the key and a shawl, and he took 160 zlotys and went to the Maggid.
The Maggid said to him: “Why have you come? Did I not already tell you what her situation is?”
He said: “She gave me the key and allowed me to spend all her money.”
The Maggid immediately sent for Rabbi Michel of Zloczow, of blessed memory, and Rabbi Leib HaKohen, of blessed memory, and instructed them, along with the aforementioned Rabbi Yosef, to go to the mikveh. At that time the Maggid still had the use of his legs, but was unable to climb into the water. The three of them set off, and the Maggid went with them as well; the three went into the water while the Maggid stood over them. They remained submerged for a while, and when they began to climb out, the Maggid said to them: “The task is not yet done.”
And they immersed themselves like this several times. And the ever-remembered Rabbi Yosef used to say: “The Maggid wanted to teach me kavana (inner intention), but it was better for me to follow my own simplicity.”
They sat in the mikveh until they turned blue; Rabbi Yosef grew cold, since he was no longer young, and said:
“Master of the world! Grant me the life of this rabbi's wife, for I am already exhausted.”
After this he told them to climb out and leave the mikveh:
“For you have accomplished the task, and the rabbi's wife will live and will give birth to triplets” — and he stated how many boys and how many girls there would be, but I did not remember. Now, before they went to the mikveh, the Maggid had ordered hot food, heavily seasoned with spices, to be prepared so they could warm up after bathing. After eating, the Maggid said that he wished to withdraw and not be disturbed, for there would be a great commotion; he even locked the door behind him and did not allow anyone to enter until she had given birth safely.
Pidyon nefesh (redemption of the soul) is a special ritual practiced by kabbalists for the purpose of delivering a person from illness or averting a danger threatening him.
The number 160 had special significance in the ritual of redeeming the soul. It is the gematria of words such as:
- “etz” (tree) — “For man is a tree of the field” (Deuteronomy 20:19);
- “tzelem” (image) — “Let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness” (Genesis 1:26);
- “kesef” (money), with which the soul is redeemed.
(From the book "Shivchei HaBesht")