Modern Masters: the Tzadikim of Koshnitz,Grodzisk and Piascezna zy’a | Rabbi Sam Shor | Oct 23rd 25'

This week I want to do something a little bit different than what we typically do. This course is called modern we have some new faces. This course is called modern masters where we meet typically great um masters of Jewish thought or hakic masters from the primarily from the late 19th century through current living today. Um and since this mo Shabas kesh is is dalashvan begins dal mareshan which is the yard site of the great sodic that we've learned from and about many times in this class that being the rebi of pietetsna the kodesh the rabbi the waretto um I thought we might actually do something a little bit different connected to the rebi of pettna um last year before his art site we we actually delved deeply into his biography and his story and learned three or four pieces of his of his Torah that kind of gave us a glimpse into his his incredible faith and um and [clears throat] utter trust in even in the depths of hell of the ghetto. Today we're going to do something a little bit different and we're actually going to um look at several generations of his illustrious family. Again, the Rabbi Piaetsna or Clonus Kam Shapi Hashem Kundam was a scion going back to many of the great lights of of theic movement including Rebel Mahens including um the Mid of Kajnit on both sides of his family. So today we're going this morning um as we prepare for his yardsite we're actually going to learn from several generations of the rebum of gisk petta and kajnitz the family basically the family tree of the rebi of of of pietetsna and again this coming mozzabas will commemorate his 82nd yard site all right so today just a little bit of a brief introduction In terms of the personalities we're going to learn from today, go the the rebata of course is the son of a great master of gisk. Rebel shaper of gisk was married and had three children from his first marriage. Uh including a daughter who married into the kajjutser umic dynasty. Again the over several generations you have many many um personalities from theidic dynasty of gisk and kajnit that marry one another. They become they become cousins through through multiple marriages and related through multiple marriages. But one of m's children from his first marriage his daughter married the kashnit and we'll talk about him in a little while. He had two other children from that first marriage including Rabbi Israel of Ges who succeeds him as the Rebi of of the Gidim and he Rab just perished in Trebinka and we'll learn a little bit about his story and a little bit of his Torah this morning as well from his second marriage. He had two great sons who really didn't know their father. They they reb passed away when these two sons were literally toddlers, young boys and that's Kam Shapir and the Rebi of Pets and Rebay Shapi who makes aliyah to Israel in 1919 becomes a devoted disciple of Rafkuk and he's lovingly referred to as the Adora Kalut. Um, and actually there's a brand new safer that was just published this summer for the for the 82nd for the 80th yard site of the Admiralutes. Um, and it's for the first time we have a safer with many writings and letters of the Admiralutes. The Admiralutes Shai Shapira the brother of the PSS the Rebi. He makes aliyah in 1919 be as I said earlier becomes a devoted disciple of Rafkuk u falls in love with Israel writes a letter in 1919 when he arrives in Arit Israel back to his brother the rebetsa in in Poland and says I'm determined to build my life here even if I have to be moil ze even if I have to become a garbage collector I'm determined to build my life here and he eventually becomes known as the admiral he gives up his long cloak, rabbitic garb, and starts there famous pictures of him riding on a horse wearing a cowboy hat literally with short sleeves and he goes to all the various issu that are being built up and he gives um encouragement and support and ministers to the and he lovingly becomes known as the admutes. Okay. So, we're going to learn from we're not going to learn from the Admiral Khalut, but we are going to learn from several generations of this illustrious dynasty. And um if you look on your sheets, we're actually going to look at the suga, an important suga. Um and it's very interesting to see how numerous numerous generations of the an illustrious dynasty relate to this idea. And that's the story of the Moragi. Okay, the story of the Moragi that we're all familiar with. And this is text number one on our sheets. We're going to begin just with inl. And we know the story. Mosher sends out the Moragim to spy out the land. Mos gives them very specific instructions, implicit instructions in terms of what they're looking for, what he's expecting them to come back and tell them. And this is what they come back and tell. Let's take let's just dive dive right in. They said to him to Moshe and they said it's we went we came into the land that you sent us to and it's true that it's a land flowing with milk and honey and it's very fruitful. So the first thing they do is what they say Mosha you were right it's a beautiful it's a land flowing with milk and honey it's full of fruits. Now though comes the next person but they say the people there are very fierce and the cities are heavily fortified we saw children of giants there. So first they come back and say to Mosha what it's true the in terms of the topography and the and and it's and and the and what's going on there. It's a beautiful place full of fruits but it's also full of people that are not so nice people that are maybe intimidating. It's very fortified. And then he goes through which people he's talking about. And then he goes and names all the nations, all the people that the fierce, intimidating people that s are are situated across the land. And then all of a sudden stands up and says and the Torah tells Moshe and Khal quiets down the people before Moshe. In other words, you can imagine the Morav come back and say, you know, it's not going to be so simple for us to go there. It's surrounded by all these fiercely strong uh difficult nations for us to conquer and they're not going to be happy with us coming there. And all of a sudden, you can imagine what happens when they hear that report. When the people hear a report like that, they start talking amongst themselves, whispering, and all of a sudden there's a murmuring throughout the entire camp stands up and he quiets down the people before Moshe. And he says, listen to his words, "We will surely go up and we will settle the land. because it's within our capacity to do so. And those the other Moragen that went together with Khaliv and we know okay they say wait a minute though you know it's not going to be so easy for us to go there. Why? Because the people there are stronger than we are. Okay. So what do we do with this famous these sukim? What do we do first of all with the report of the miraagling? Mosha Bainu basically asks them to give an honest report an honest assessment and they do they give both the good and the challenging. They come back and say there's some beautiful things there but there's some challenging things that lie ahead for us there. And then what do we do with Khalif? Khalif doesn't refute their their claims by the way. Okay. What does Khalif say? We should do it because we can. Okay, that's a familiar election slogan from a few a few years ago. Yes, we can. Right. There's there there Kylie says simply we should go and do it. He doesn't try to refute their arguments. The question is what are we meant to learn from all of these episodes? And what we're going to do now together is we're going to take a look at several at the the approach to these from several different generations of the of thisic dynasty of GIS pets and knit of these dynasties that are inter interrelated as we mentioned in the introduction and we're going to start first with this is text number two with the words of Ara Shapi Majes of Israel. So he is by the way this rebi the rebi of gajeska there is he's buried in the Sanhedria cemetery here inim those of us that some of us were together I think um uh during we did a we did a seor I led a tour of the kadikim in the sanhadria cemetery and he one of the graves that we visited was actually this rebi that we're we're going to learn from right now he is the grandson of Rebel Melik the father of the psi which means he's the half nephew of the pas the rebi and he he survives the shawan he actually comes to to Isel and he's buried in the sanhedria cemetery so this is what he has to say about about khaliv and about the answer that khaliv gives khal this is text number two and the answer that khal the response that khaliv gives what is what is what does khal really saying us saying to us what is he really telling the people? If the Jewish people would all go up together, then they can accomplish and overcome any of the challenges that lie before them. And that's why he he replies it's it's e easy for it and not for you. And meaning he doesn't say to the people because you meaning we as a people can it's not it's easy for us rather it's easy for it. Okay. What's it'll be easy for us to go to the land we will be able to be to embrace the wisdom and clarity as the gamarra in in tells us that a mim that the very atmosphere of the land of Israel breeds wisdom and clarity. So says the reb that when answers he's giving us a very simple recipe if we're united and if we are together and we have a shared sense of purpose and mission and dedication in going to the land of Israel that yes indeed we will be successful here and we will be able to what to be impacted by the wisdom of the atmosphere here that breathes clarity. and and intellectual clarity and spiritual clarity. By the way, Ralvich not related to this dynasty about this idea famously said that how do we understand the gamar that a dar that the very atmosphere the land of Israel brings clarity and spiritual wisdom. He says if a person comes he echoes literally what this Rebi says if a person comes to Israel looking to grow looking to ascend to spiritual heights then what happens it becomes very clear to him once they arrive here but if a person doesn't come here person comes here kind of and they're not really excited about being here then sometimes that what happens if you're already confused about your purpose in being here then sometimes that confusion can become amplified but if you come with the right intention then what happens then it becomes you become your life becomes enriched and you you are overcome by the spiritual clarity and wisdom of the land of Israel that's what Rabbi Salvich says okay so this the the rebel he tells us that what's the key what's the key idea that that Khaliv is trying to communicate it's that we have to be united and when we're united then we are strong and we can overcome any of the challenges and we can succeed in ways that we could we never imagined we could succeed. Okay. So now [cough] we're going to go back a generation. We're going to hear from Ram's father Rabisk who is the son of of Riisk. He is the halfb brotherther of the petti. And just before we learn his Torah, there's a very powerful account that's not on your sheets of the last words and last few last few moments of this Reb's life. Okay? He is known as by the way as the amunas is the the amunas is of and this is this is uh in the back of his the family is uh and have published this story. of these are the last words of our holy master of shap. May he hashem avenge his blood of blessed memory. Okay. Righteous and blessed memory. And listen to listen to the story. when they gathered together thousands of Jews in the concent in the kat the in the open area of the concentration camp in Trebinka var and the community turned towards the admir and said what does our master have to say at this moment our master our holy master said these words quietly Listen my brothers and sisters. He says if Hashem decides that we're this is our time basically that it's it's our moment that we're going to have to sacrifice ourselves be amongst the sac the carbonos of the of the of the mashiach the birth pains of Msiah okay on this high level which will lead us to the and and therefore we're We're going to be brought on the altar, so to speak. If Hashem is deemed that it's our that we're to be part of those carbonas that are going to usher in and bring us closer to the gula, then we are what? We are happy to to merit to to be on that level. Okay? that we we I I came and I did not see him since we came to the realization of but now that we've come and we realize mean you could come to this situation of of utter destruction the Jewish people and you could say what Hashem abandoned us okay and we're and we're lost he said but now that we're really we've moved beyond that level of of the process and we realize what that we're about to die and we've ascended to the higher level. We have to what? Be happy that knowing that through the merit of our of our ashes the entire Jewish people will be purified. And therefore, it's a mitzvah that we shouldn't despair and we shouldn't cry as we go to the crematorium. Quite the contrary, we should do so. Okay? And we should s sing the okay just like when he passed away when he was murdered his left by saying as he said the word from the people all listened to his holy words and as They sang im and recited. They sanctified the name of God in public. Okay. And then that says may their may his and their blood be be um be um re avenged. Okay. And may their mer then may their memory be for a blessing. Okay. So with this powerful story we get a glimpse at who this great admir was gis again the half brotherly the ps of the rebi and these are his words about the moragling this is text number three on our sheets [cough] okay and he's going to basically he's going to address what was the real task of the moragling what was it that mushroom really was tasking the moragling to seek out listen to those words the camel. This is the idea that's represented by the story of the moragi wasn't really interested in sending them to what to scout out whether the land is good or bad but rather what was the real point of the mission to scout out the hearts of the Jewish people if they're ready, okay? If they're in the right spiritual headsp space, as we spoke about earlier, right? If they're ready to come into the land of Israel, to inherit the land of Israel, all the all the land associated like and giving other gifts to the poor like and things like this, All these concepts are dependent though and and require tremendous amuna trust that what that if we're inv if we give if we give that like we're meant to if we refrain from working the crafts during that requires tremendous amuno why because it says to us what we realize that our parasa is not in our hands but it's in the hands of and therefore says the rabbi but quite the contrary they're quite the contrary if we keep these mitzvos then we're promised what that all of our all of our actions will be blessed so says the rebi of gisk okay k rebi He says that what is it that Mosher Rabenu is really tasking the moragling to do they're not just to tell to speak about the physical reality on the ground when they come to but what to come back and encourage the people and say what there might be some challenges there life there might might take some work but we can accomplish great things there and to what gauge whether the people are ready for that sacred mission. And if not, then they won't be successful. But if they are, then they can accomplish greatness. And that's exactly the challenge of what happens is that because the miraculy grasp, okay, what their sacred mission was truly all about, they come back and they speak only of the primarily of the challenges. and and that generation ends up not being able to merit to go in to Israel. Okay, we're now going to learn from the KN of KN is a son-in-law of he's the brother-in-law of the PSI and of the and terms of how I discovered the sto the safer, it's actually a story in of itself. Um, a number of years ago I was in Toronto. I was living in New York at the time and I was before I was married to my wife and um, I was living in Toronto and I have a sister that lives in Toronto and for sukus I decided I was going to go to Toronto and spend the week there with with my with my sister and her family. My at the time she had two kids. Now she has four kids. Um and uh I went to Shaw the first night of of sukus and I'm I brought my safer age kadesh to the safer the pessi with me. I'm in shaw and I'm actually looking at a piece of Torah for the Rebi and I see there's this older gentleman staring at me from across the shaw like fixated on me to the point of like it's like really making me uncomfortable. And [cough] I [clears throat] thought maybe maybe he was annoyed, maybe his son was the Kazin and he was upset that I'm looking at a piece of Torah and not maybe paying as close attention to the as maybe I should be. So finally he walks over to me and he says I see you like I said yes. He said um he says how's your Hebrew? I said it's uh pretty good. He says is it good enough to read an article in an eon in a newspaper? of he said well would you like to read an article about my father about my father blessed memory so no one is going to have the if someone offers would you would you like to read something about my my father blessed memory to say no I'm not interested in reading about your your dead father of course I said sure I'd be honored to read the read the article so sure enough this gentleman this Gutman who was sitting across the across the um the aisle for me His father had been a aid of the PSA Rebi in Poland. And the PSA Rebi actually sent this per this when he was a teenager and they saw was about to happen in Poland. The Nazis were rising to power. He sent this young man at the time, this gentleman's father to to go study with his brother-in-law who had already left Poland and reestablish his court first in Vienna then in Paris and um and so he got passage to Paris and he's amongst a handful of together with who came to Eric Israel um in the late 19 late 1930s and rebuilt their lives. And he actually grew up to become the right-hand man to help reestablish the the of Kashnitz here in Erit Isel. And um so anyway, so so I'm blown away by this by the uh by the by the story about this gentleman's father and he comes over to me afterwards. He pulled a safer off the shelf and he says, "Since you like, maybe you want to buy take a look at this one." And he hands me this safer called a verazar. And he says, "I can take it with me." Um, so the whole week I'm like learning from the safer. It's beautiful, beautiful safer. And on on when I'm in shaw for the last day there, I said I brought the safer over to him. I said I want to I want to return it. I'm going to be in Israel in a few weeks. Can you tell me where I can get the safer and he says keep this copy? I'll bring another copy for the shaw and the safer which is one of my most worn outs for him has like you know a page dedicated to congregation with by the f anyways. So it's a beautiful safer theor is actually buried next to the the rebi of gesk in the cemetery here in Sanria. Um again their I guess their h their brothersin-law. Okay. And we're going to learn a short piece from the about this question of the words of Khal and refuting or the way he goes about trying to refute the moragi. Okay, this is text four on our we have to try to understand and explain. Why does it say we shall go up and go up and we're and we're able to and we and we can we have to explain as follows. This is what Khalif said to them. come. So if we put our full tr trust and faith that h through hashem's kindness we can indeed elevate ourselves then he will lift us up. When we put our trust in Hashem, Hashem takes us over this over the finish line and then we can we will go up and we should also can achieve anything we put our hearts and minds to when we put our trust and faith in then we can overcome any of life's challenges. Yeshua Hashem can hashem can bring us salvation at the blink of an eye even when we're facing seemingly uncsurmountable odds. the Moragi come back and say it's going to be very challenging but Kali says no if we put our trust in then we can achieve anything we put our minds and hearts to and we're going to learn one last piece now just to bring this all together from the PS the rebby himself from K Shapiro himself from the safer kesh this is a message or or the notes of a message that the PS the rebby delivered in the Warso ghetto Okay. Um the shabas in 1940 and let's just take a look at the reby's words. We shall go surely go up and settle the land because we are certainly capable of doing so. And now the reb is going to ask the following question. And we have to ask and try to understand. Okay. We have need to really try to grasp The Moragi [clears throat] their response they come back and they have a very rational and wellthoughtout logical response. They came to the land. They saw the land is full of people that are going to be less than friendly to us. And they come back and they give a very honest and rational report. But the people are very fierce and the cities are heavily fortified. So why doesn't get into any kind of a real argument and try to what? try to disprove their claims. Raam al but he just simply says what we should surely go up because we can. It's a good question. Okay. Any of us who were ever involved in in debate in debates in high school or in college if we're ever study if any any good defense attorney knows that if someone presents information as fact what do you what is your what is your task? How do you how do you try to overcome that information being presented as fact? You try to refute their arguments and disprove their arguments. So the Rebi says why doesn't Khalif try to disprove their arguments. Okay, they come with very rational logical approach. Why doesn't Khalif try to dispute and to and to argue against the facts that they've presented? Now listen to what the Rebi does with that question. All Khaliv is telling teaching us a fundamental lesson about the faith in which how a Jew has to put their trust in Hashem. The faith of the Jewish people. Not only when a person looks around at a difficult circumstance that they're facing and they come to a logical natural way out that they with their own human intellect they can grasp a way of overcoming that challenge. Are they then putting are they then putting their faith in Hashem and strengthen not only in those circumstances Listen to the Reby's powerful words. If you get nothing else out of this whole, this sentence is is the is the takehome. He says, even in the moments, especially in the moments when it doesn't seem that there's any logical way out, that there's any natural way that we're going to overcome our challenges. We need to put our trust and full faith in Hashem that he will indeed he will indeed rescue us and and protect us. Now the Reb is going to talk personally about what he and and those in the war ghetto are experiencing. Quite the contrary at this time meaning what now with what we're living through. It's better for us what? Not to look for some kind of logical or natural way that we're going to survive. Why? Because it looks pretty desperate. It looks pretty bleak. Okay? Shalom. Because when a person looks around and they see that it's hopeless and it appears completely bleak and dim, there's no chance to our survival. Then what ends up happening? What can end up happening? Our faith could become damaged. And if a person's faith becomes damaged, okay, then what can happen? Then they could miss their opportunity to experience redemption. Now there's an idea that we shared in these classes many times related to to the story of it's an idea that's brought by the great rabbi. [cough and clears throat] Okay. asks a very fundamental question. The sed begins and we say this is the this this matzah represents what the slaves rations that our ancestors ate when they throughout the 210 years that they were enslaved in Egyptian servitude. And then at the end of the seder the end of the mid we're told rail tells us that we have to speak about three things to be say the the mitz what are the three things we have to talk about matzah and when when what does rail how does guml explain matzah why do we eat matzah because we left mit in great haste and there was no time for for our bread to rise soak asked a question which is it does the masa represent the slaves rations that we ate for 210 years or does it represent what that we left really quickly? And then he asked the following question. If it's true that the matzah represents let's say both okay if it's true that for 210 years all we had to eat was matzah and hashem has done all these miraculous things okay leading up to pharaoh finally saying gan they can go let them go right so they've they've witnessed all the plagues they witnessed all these miraculous things so at that moment when they it's clear that Hashem has their back okay and all they've had to eat for the past 210 years are these matzas does. So, and Hashem's got our backs and we know it. So why not let the dough rise a few more minutes and instead of having matzah we could finally have a nice kala a marble rye like right why why at that moment ask do they not do they do they not just let the bread ro what's the message so is the most powerful thing he says sometimes brings wind windows of opportunity into our lives okay to experience salvation and if our minds and our hearts believe this idea of Yeshua that can indeed bring flip our our reality on a at the drop at the blink of an eye at the drop of a dime and we're in tune to that and we're looking for those opportunities. We believe in those opportunities. So when those opportunities come, we're able to seize those moments and experience redemption. And that says what is what's going on in time. They see there's a window of opportunity. They even though they've eaten the matzah, the same matzah for 210 years, they don't care because why? They see there's a moment and opportunity to experience salvation, greatness, miracles, and they believe it wholeheartedly and they jump right in and they dive right in. So too this is the piece that's the rebi let's go back to our piece okay if our faith becomes damaged if we don't believe okay even when it seems so bleak that we could experience a Yeshua if we don't believe that Hashem can indeed bring a Yeshua at the blink of an eye if our faith becomes damaged god forbid then that could what cause us to miss that window of Yeshua redemption as it opens up before us god forbid But rather we just always have to say it's all true. Now look what the Rebi does here. It's true. The people surrounding the Jewish people, the nations surrounding the Jewish people are strong and fierce. He takes the words of the Moragleim and brings it back to what? What they're experiencing in the here and now of the Wasugetto. He says it's true where the people surrounding us are fierce. The words are correct [cough] that the cities are heavily fortified. And despite all this I put my full faith in Hashem. Hashem that he is beyond the limits of na of of nature and he will indeed save us. Let's go up to the land and we will settle there without any logic without any theories and with faith and trust of this in Hashem Yeshua that will bring speedily our redemption. So just before we to bring this all together that we learned from so many powerful teachings from this incredible multi multi-layeredic dynasty um this last piece of the ishes. So many of you have had the opportunity over the years to learn together with my illustrious father-in-law Rabbi Mosha Snow who I bring in periodically to give guest lectures for us. So, Rabbi Snow was for many years for close to uh 40 years he was the he was the close to 40 years he was the rabbi of the youngest of Bethl of Bar Park and you know we don't get to do this all every week but periodically we try before Shabas to share ideas you know in terms of what we're going to speak about or what class we so number of years ago when he was still before his ali when he was still living in bar park um As Shabbat Schlack was approaching, I sh I shared this this idea for the PS. We learned this to her together and he was very moved by it and he decided to share it in his shaw in B park. Okay. So, fast forward about six months later and Rab was here visiting at the time and he and I went to the one afternoon and this gentleman starts kind of chasing after us and said says to are you Rabbi Snow and my father-in-law said yes. He says I want you to know six months ago about six months ago I was in a very very bad space. I had just gone through a divorce. I have been in an arranged marriage. It was a very very difficult circumstance for me and I was feeling totally depressed thinking about even maybe Shalom harming myself and then I happened even though I was no longer welcome in my family where I used to die when I grew up I stumbled that Shabas morning of Shabbl into your into the young isobl and I heard your powerful words about the PSI that that we can if we put our minds If we put our trust in Hashem, we can overcome and we can persevere. We can survive. We can succeed. And I want you to know that uh two weeks ago, I succeeded in making aliyah and rebuilt starting to rebuild my life here. And I owe it all to that dress that you share from the PSS and the Rebi. My friends, as we get ready to commemorate this powerful the the the art center, this incredible sadic who was such a powerful force for utter trust and faith in the rebon shalom even in the most difficult darkest times. May we be inspired also to realize that Hashem endows every single one of us with the capacity if we put our trust in the shalom then we can we can achieve, we can grow, we can accomplish. Okay, we ne a Jew as teaches us a Jew never gives up hope. A Jew never gives up faith. And if we put our faith and trust in the world, then indeed both as individuals and collectively to see great issues have greats.