Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Shapiro of Blazhov - "Tzvi La-Tzadik"

Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Shapiro (grandson of the "Bnei Yissaschar") founded the Blazhov Chassidic dynasty in the early 1880s. Yahrzeit - 5 Nissan Resting place - Rzeszów, Poland He was born in 1841 to Rabbi Dovid and Rochel Shapiro. His father was the Rebbe Dovid of Dinov, the "Tzemach Dovid"" - son of the "Bnei Yissaschar" - Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Shapiro. A student of Rabbi Chaim Halberstam of Sanz, Rabbi Shapiro served as Rebbe of Ribotitz before taking up the position of rabbi of Blazhov. During the First World War he fled to the neighboring town of Rzeszów, where he passed away in 1924. He is generally remembered as the "Tzvi La-Tzadik," after the title of his book. He married the daughter of the Rebbe Moshe Horowitz of Rozwadów, of the Ropshitz dynasty. He served as rabbi of Ribotitz and Blazhov until the First World War, during which he fled to Budapest. After the war he settled in Przemyślany and Rzeszów, where he passed away in 1924. He and his descendants make up the Blazhov dynasty. Limud In "Tzvi La-Tzadik" (Moadim, Iyar 3, 10), Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech of Blazhov gives us a beautiful explanation based on the Midrash (Kohelet Rabbah 11:6). According to the Midrash, when all 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva died, he gathered his new students and said: "הראשונים לא מתו אלא מפני ש everyone מיד עמדו ומלאו כל ארץ ישראל תורה" - the first ones died because they selfishly withheld their Torah from one another; you must not behave the same way - you will no longer be as before. Immediately they arose and filled the entire Land of Israel with Torah. When the Gemara states that Rabbi Akiva's students did not treat one another with respect, it means that they selfishly withheld their Torah knowledge from each other. They refused to be generous and to pass on what they had learned to their fellow students. Therefore Rabbi Akiva admonished his new students not to hoard their Torah knowledge. Heeding his words: "They immediately arose and filled the entire Land of Israel with Torah." Based on this concept, the "Tzvi La-Tzadik" explains the severity of the error of Rabbi Akiva's students: "And the matter is that the first students did not want to enjoy each other's Torah because of hatred, and each of them did not reveal to his friends what he knew and what they had received, because of the hatred between them - for the oral study of Torah relies on those who receive it, and it is therefore so important to share Torah and pass on its knowledge." May the merit of the tzadik protect Am Yisrael! (http://torahdoc.free.fr/torahdoc/%5B1%5D%20Parasha/Rav%20Friedman/5776/5776-35-Emor%5BEN%5D.pdf)