25 Adar · Yahrzeit
Rabbi Gershon Kutover
Rabbi Gershon bar Avraham Kutover - Rabbi Gershon of Brody (1696-1761) – an outstanding halachic authority and kabbalist, one of the closest disciples of the founder of Chassidism, Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov.
Yahrzeit - 25 Adar
Resting place - Har HaZeitim (Mount of Olives), Jerusalem
He studied in the famous kloiz of Brody – there his study partner in Torah was Rabbi Yechezkel Landau (the Noda B'Yehuda), who later became the chief rabbi of Prague.
Rabbi Gershon headed one of the four rabbinical courts in Brody.
He was known far beyond the borders of Poland. One of the spiritual leaders of the generation, Rabbi Yonatan Eibeshitz, called him "a famous tzadik, an outstanding master of Torah, and a divine kabbalist."
Rabbi Yechezkel Landau, in one of his responsa, also spoke of Rabbi Gershon as "a perfect sage and a holy tzadik." (Noda B'Yehuda, Even HaEzer 73)
Around 1725, the sister of Gershon Kutover married a former melamed, Rabbi Yisrael bar Eliezer, who later became famous under the name Baal Shem Tov.
It is told that Rabbi Gershon's father, Rabbi Avraham Kutover of Brody, having visited the town where the Baal Shem Tov lived, concluded a marriage agreement with him. However, on his way back to Brody, Rabbi Avraham Kutover fell ill and soon passed away. While going through his father's papers, Rabbi Gershon found the marriage agreement among them, but it did not state in which town the groom lived. Only a few months later did the Baal Shem Tov himself appear at Rabbi Gershon's house, dressed in simple peasant clothing – for at that time he still concealed his greatness in Torah behind the guise of a simple villager. Rabbi Gershon, absorbed in his study of books, ordered that alms be given to the guest, but the Baal Shem Tov declared that he had come for his bride, and produced a copy of the marriage contract.
For several months after the wedding took place, Rabbi Gershon tried to teach his "ignorant" brother-in-law, but then, in despair, suggested that his sister divorce the "unlearned man" – and when she refused, Rabbi Gershon bought them a horse and wagon and sent the young family away from Brody. (Shivchei HaBesht 4:5)
Later he rented an inn for them in the Carpathian Mountains, not far from the town of Kutov, from which the Kutover family originated.
After Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov "revealed himself" around 1734 and began to spread his teachings widely, Rabbi Gershon Kutover became one of the most ardent followers of his brother-in-law. Around 1740, he moved to the town of Medzhibozh, where the Baal Shem Tov, after long wanderings, had settled with his disciples. Rabbi Gershon became the tutor of Tzvi, the only son of the Baal Shem Tov.
In 1743, Rabbi Gershon traveled to the Land of Israel, on a mission from the Baal Shem Tov, to establish contact with the outstanding kabbalist Rabbi Chaim ibn Attar (the Or HaChaim) and to create with him a joint center for the study of the hidden dimensions of Torah. However, upon arriving in Jerusalem, Rabbi Gershon found that Rabbi Chaim ibn Attar had already passed away.
Rabbi Gershon visited many holy places. According to the testimony of his contemporaries, "standing opposite the mountain where the Temple had once stood, Rabbi Gershon fainted several times in a row from bitterness and grief – so much so that it was with great difficulty that he was revived." (Sha'arei HaMe'ah 6:7)
Some time later, Rabbi Kutover returned to Medzhibozh and spent several more years alongside the Baal Shem Tov, gaining an ever deeper understanding of his teachings.
In 1746, Rabbi Kutover arrived in the Land of Israel a second time, in order to spread the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov there. This time Rabbi Gershon and his family settled in Hevron, where they were the only Ashkenazi Jews – immigrants from Eastern Europe.
In 1753, Rabbi Kutover once again visited Jerusalem and stayed in the city for two weeks.
In a letter addressed to the Besht, Rabbi Gershon told of the mysterious events connected with this visit to the holy city. On the very first Shabbat, all the Ashkenazi Jews of Jerusalem, who had heard about him from the Jews of Hevron, came to him – they asked him to lead their community. Rabbi Gershon "tried to flee from honor, as he had done all his life," but they "began to persistently persuade him" and did not leave him for eight days. Moreover, prominent Sephardic sages joined the negotiations, likewise insisting that he "settle in Jerusalem."
On the day when Rabbi Gershon was nevertheless preparing to leave the city, the Jews of Jerusalem surrounded him in the house of study. They "began to weep" and "broke Rabbi Gershon's heart" to such an extent that he finally agreed. The Jews of Jerusalem "rejoiced with great joy" and that very day rented a luxurious apartment and house of study for their new rabbi, where he could teach Torah. They handed Rabbi Gershon the keys and dispatched a messenger who was to bring the rabbi's wife and children from Hevron at their expense. But when Rabbi Gershon sat down to write a letter to his wife, he suddenly "felt his hand become immobile," as though paralyzed.
He said to the people of Jerusalem: "My brothers! Do you not see that all this is not pleasing to the Almighty?" They again "began to persuade him," but he "felt a great sadness – as though all the sorrows of Jerusalem had fallen upon him." Unable to write the letter, Rabbi Gershon set out himself to fetch his family, but the community assigned him special escorts, whose task was to make sure he would not change his mind and remain in Hevron.
And yet Rabbi Gershon did not return – a few weeks later an epidemic broke out in Jerusalem, "claiming the lives of two hundred Jews, including several outstanding sages," and the Ashkenazi community in the city ceased to exist. "Only then," Rabbi Kutover added at the end of his letter, "did I understand the greatness of the miracle that G-d, praised forever and ever, performed for me!" (Ginzei Nistarot 66; Sha'arei HaMe'ah 6:7)
In later years, Rabbi Gershon Kutover nevertheless returned to Jerusalem, where he studied at the Sephardic kabbalist yeshiva "Beit El," headed by the outstanding sage from Yemen, Rabbi Shar Shalom Sharabi – the Rashash.
Rabbi Gershon Kutover passed away in Jerusalem on 25 Adar (the first month of Adar) of the leap year 1761.
His grave on the Mount of Olives was rediscovered after the Six-Day War of 1967.
Sipurei Tzadikim
I heard this from the mouth of the great luminary, the tzadik Rabbi Gedaliah, the rabbi of our community. Once the Besht asked to borrow the book of the Zohar from the rabbi of the holy community of Kut. On his way home he met his brother-in-law, Rabbi Gershon. [Rabbi Gershon] asked him: "What is that you have under your coat?" But he did not tell him. Rabbi Gershon got down from the wagon, pulled the book of the Zohar out from under his coat, and took it away from him. And he said in astonishment: "Do you really need the book of the Zohar?"[82] Then the Besht went into town to pray in the beit midrash. During the prayer he sighed bitterly. After the prayer, Rabbi Moshe, the rabbi of the holy community of Kut, asked him: "What is this I heard, that you were sighing bitterly during the prayer?" He tried to evade the question and said to him: "In truth, those sighs came from the heart." Finally, he said to him: "The mezuzah is invalid." [Rabbi Moshe] checked and found that it was indeed invalid. He gave him the book of the Zohar and blessed him, wishing that [on the road] he would not encounter Rabbi Gershon.
(Shivchei HaBesht, 24)
I heard from my father-in-law, of blessed memory, that the Besht once had a horse, and it was stolen from him. Rabbi Gershon began to reproach him for it. He suddenly exclaimed: "The horse will be returned to me." Rabbi Gershon laughed at him. And every time he came to town after that, Rabbi Gershon would tease him, asking: "Yisrael, has your horse been returned to you yet?" A year later, a gentile arrived riding that very horse and knocked on the window to ask for a light for his pipe. The Besht recognized his horse and said: "Why, that is my horse." The gentile got down from the horse and returned it to the Besht.
(Shivchei HaBesht, 25)
May the merit of this tzadik protect Am Yisrael!
(http://www.shabat-shalom.info/books/Tsadikim/Evreyskie_Mudretsi_5_18-vek_Acharonim.htm)