28 Nisan · Yahrzeit

Rabbi Shem Klingsberg of Zalozhtsy - "Ohalei Shem"

Rabbi Shem Klingsberg of Zalozhtsy (1872-1943) was the author of "Ohalei Shem" and one of the greatest Kabbalistic scholars of his time. Yahrzeit - 28 Nissan Resting place - Krakow, Plaszow A descendant of the Zhidachov and Komarno chassidic dynasties, his unusual name, Shem, was given to him in accordance with the mystical tradition upheld by his great-grandfather, Rabbi Yitzchak of Komarno, that Shem, the son of Noach, was destined to bring favor upon the people of Israel in 1872, the year of his birth; this role was symbolically assigned to the newborn child. He lived in Krakow before the Holocaust. When the Germans occupied Krakow, Rabbi Shem was on the list of rabbis they wanted to arrest. This was consistent with their policy of arresting the spiritual elite of the Jews and other enslaved peoples in order to destroy their leadership. Rabbi Shem managed to avoid arrest and hid for two years in one of the nearby towns. While in hiding, he continued to learn and teach as much as possible and to encourage everyone who was with him. When the Krakow Ghetto was established in March 1941, he was forced to leave his hiding place and was secretly smuggled into the ghetto. During this time, he stopped singing "Zemirot" on Shabbat. Paraphrasing the midrash, he declared: "The people of Israel are drowning in the sea, and you are singing?" Rabbi Shem was murdered on 28 Nissan (April 3, 1943) at the Plaszow camp on the outskirts of Krakow. Commenting on Tehillim 73:17: "Until I came into the sanctuary of G-d, then I understood their end," he said: "When Mashiach comes, we will understand the secret of the Divine conduct of these times, the secret of the murders and the slaughter." He was certain that there was an explanation for the Holocaust that had befallen Israel, but that human experience was, until now, utterly incapable of grasping it, and only in the days of Mashiach, when a different cosmic order would prevail, would everything become clear. May the merit of the Tzadik protect Am Yisrael! https://www.geni.com/photo/view/387568800150004096?album_type=photos_of_me&photo_id=6000000173331222917