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The Sadigerer Rebbe zt"l: Malchus Shebegevurah
by R Friedman
Part II
This article was originally published in 1996, 29 years ago.
For Part I of this series click here.
With the petiroh of the Sadiger Rebbe Reb Mordechai Sholom Yosef Friedman zt"l on the 29th of Nisan 5739 (1979) the fourteenth day of the Omer, came to a close the life of one of the most remarkable tzaddikim in modern times. According to Kavonos Ha'Arizal the date of his petiroh—the 14th of the Omer—corresponds to the middoh, 'Malchus Shebegevurah.' No two words could more aptly describe his life, for over three generations the Rebbe led Klal Yisroel with malchus and gevurah, guiding Yidden through two World Wars, all the while faithfully tending to their needs in every situation.
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In 1934 the Rebbe decided to leave Vienna and to move to Pshemishal where he could be closer to his many chassidim. In Pshemishal the Rebbe established a large 'court' to where his chassidim would come in their masses. Here he was able to truly lead his chassidim as in Sadiger before the War. Every time he left his house to go somewhere, he would be accompanied by scores of his faithful followers. The large Beis Hamedrash was constantly full of those who came to see and be seen.
Here free of the many constrictions that living in a big city like Vienna had imposed on him, he was able to truly lead his chassidim in honor and dignity. From far and wide many flocked to Pshemishal to bask in his presence. The streets around his house were never quiet for a minute, as one group of chassidim left another group would arrive in its place. The Rebbe established a close relationship with the bochurim in his yeshiva testing them regularly and overseeing their progress.
In Israel in 1939
Seeing his great hatzlocho with his own mosdos haTorah, Reb Meir Shapiro approached the Rebbe asking that he assist him in opening Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin. Already close friends for years they now became even closer as the many exchanges of letters between them testifies. The Rebbe spared no effort in helping the yeshiva get on its feet successfully raising large sums of money on its behalf.
When the Rebbe came for a visit to the Yeshiva, the Lubliner Rav commanded all the bochurim to don their Shabbos clothes as a mark of respect for their illustrious guest. After a tour around the yeshiva, a kabolas panim was held in the Beis Hamedrash, at which the Lubliner Rav extolled at length the many praises of the Rebbe. Later on the Rebbe delivered a brilliant and penetrating drosho which left the bochurim spellbound for a long time to come.
A few months before the outbreak of the Second World War, the Rebbe decided to make a trip to Eretz Yisroel. He had already visited the country once before during Iyar 1933 and already then had commented that he feels as if he belongs in Eretz Yisroel. All he is missing is the reality of actually living there, and that, he was sure, would still come. Those words came true when on the advice of his uncle the Husyatiner Rebbe, Reb Yisroel zt"l, the Rebbe did not return to Europe but stayed to live in Eretz Yisroel.
The Rebbe could easily have settled in Yerushalayim or in another frum neighborhood where he could have established a large shul or yeshiva. The Rebbe, however, chose to settle in the secular city of Tel Aviv on order (as he would say) that the city should not turn into an Ir hanidochas. Instead of being surrounded by chassidim and talmidei chachomim, his new beis hamedrash in the city center was filled with the simple and the ignorant.
'If my beis hamedrash will cause a Yid who has strayed from the path of Yiddishkeit to also occasionally utter 'Amen yehei shemsei Rabbah,' then it's all worthwhile,' the Rebbe would say.
When the news arrived of the annihilation of European Jewry, the Rebbe was heartbroken. 'Bitter is the fate of the flock who have lost their shepherd, but even more bitter is the fate of the shepherd who has lost his flock,' the Rebbe told those around him.
Despite the precarious situation in Eretz Yisroel the Rebbe did not despair and did his utmost to comfort and reassure his followers. When a certain Rav commented that if one could actually feel the 'Divine Presence' it would strengthen people's 'emunah,' the Rebbe answered him that such a comment hold true only for a mere simple person, for any Jew who has just a small measure of 'erlichkeit' feels the Hand of Hashem constantly in everything around him!
Although the Rebbe had been a leader for the masses in the years before the war, now however he changed his direction, concentrating mainly on the individual. In the years after the Second World War it was first needed to comfort and rebuild the shattered lives of the survivors. The Rebbe would give of his time and money to help them to adjust to their new lives. Even when he had no more to give, he still did not desist from helping all who turned to him.
When he heard of a yungerman who wanted to start up a business but was unable to do so because people were afraid to lend him money, the Rebbe didn't hesitate for a second, he gave away his gold watch as a pledge to secure a loan for the yungerman.
Interior of Sadiger shul in Europe
Having arrived in Eretz Yisroel before the War, and having been spared all the horrors that befell his brethren, the Rebbe felt that it was his duty to help rebuild Klal Yisroel from its ruins. His house became a well known address for the various communal dignitaries who sought his advice and ideas.
Each and every problem brought to his knowledge received his total attention and until the problem had been solved he would not sit back for a minute. Besides local communal problems, he also became involved in many of the burning issues of the period which enveloped Klal Yisroel with the independence of the State of Israel.
When word leaked out about Yaldei Teheran the Rebbe did his utmost to alleviate their plight. in another instance when the idea was broached to establish a 'Sanhedrin' it was the Rebbe who fought against it and alerted other rabbonim until the idea was abolished.
The Rebbe once underwent a very painful medical treatment, the doctor who was treating him was amazed that he could not detect any sign of pain in the Rebbe's face and wanted to know how it was possible for the Rebbe not to react to the pain, the Rebbe explained quite simply, 'When a Yid comes and tells me of his suffering it hurts me even more.'
The Rebbe once fell down and broke his hand, afterwards he told his chassidim, 'Until now when I used to daven for the recovery of those who had been wounded or were ill and suffering, I was always concerned that I can't put myself in their position to feel part of their pain. Now however I will be able to daven for them feeling what it means to have to suffer a little bit.
Indeed so concerned was he about the suffering of others, that he totally neglected himself. His chassidim begged him to move out of his cramped, temporary quarters where he had been living since his arrival, but the Rebbe would not hear of it. As long as others didn't have what to eat or where to sleep a cramped and tiny flat would suffice for him also.
It was therefore no wonder that many people came knocking on the Rebbe's door to receive his brochos, for they knew that his brochos came from the heart.
Many were the stories told of the power of his brochos. A yungerman came to the Rebbe to seek a brocho for his daughter who was lying in hospital critically ill. The doctors tried their best to cure her, but nothing had helped, and were now at a loss how to treat her. The Rebbe listened to the yungerman's story and when he had finished the Rebbe told him to try a certain drug called 'Phen- briten.'
The yungerman explained to the Rebbe that the doctors must for sure know about this drug, and since they didn't prescribe it, it is obviously not the correct medicine for his daughter. The Rebbe however was not impressed and repeated his opinion for the second time. As the Rebbe finished speaking, the clock on the wall chimed ten times, it was ten o' clock in the morning.
Later on that afternoon the young man went to the hospital to visit his daughter. Straight on his arrival, he was informed that the doctors who were working on his daughter's case had held a meeting in the morning to try and work out a course of action, and they had decided to administer her a certain drug called 'Phen- briten.' The yungerman could hardly believe his ears and asked what time the meeting had taken place. He was curious to know if it was before he had been at the Rebbe or afterwards.
At first the doctor could not recall the exact time of the meeting but after a few seconds he remembered and told the young man, 'Now I remember, just as we started the meeting the clock chimed ten times, it was 10 o' clock in the morning...'
Sadiger Graves in Givatayim
Already long before the Second World War the Rebbe had engaged in correspondence with the great gedolim pertaining to halocho matters, therefore it didn't come as a surprise when the Rebbe was invited to sit on a beis din to judge on a particular case. Much to the beis din's surprise however, the Rebbe refused their request telling them that Chazal tell us that when two people come in front of a dayan for a din Torah, until the verdict has been passed which of the two is the guilty party, both of them must be regarded as 'reshoim.'
'Now how can I do such a thing,' the Rebbe told them, 'To regard Yidden as reshoim, Even for a second I can't do such a thing!'
Not only was the Rebbe fluent in all sections of the Gemora and Midrash, in many present day seforim he was also well versed. Every new sefer printed found it way to his hands.
The Rebbe would always encourage the various rabbonim to print their chidushim, he would often offer to check through the manuscript beforehand and would also give financial assistance when necessary. Over the years he amassed a large library of seforim and manuscripts which he took with him when he left Europe for Eretz Yisroel, thereby saving them from destruction.
In the introduction to one such sefer—the sefer Resisei Torah—the author relates: "This sefer is all that remains from all my manuscripts which I had and were lost during the war, and this was through an amazing hashgocho. The Sadiger Rebbe shlita used to come to our town from time to time, the last time he was there, I handed to him this manuscript so that he could take it back with him to Pshemishal in order to look through it. With the outbreak of the War, I suffered one exile after another until I was finally zocheh to arrive in Eretz Yisroel. My first steps in Eretz Yisroel were to the house of the Sadiger Rebbe and when he told me that he still has my manuscript, I rejoiced greatly that all my efforts had not gone to waste."
The Rebbe continued to play a major role in Agudas Yisroel. As in the years before the War, his every word was treated with the greatest respect and seriousness, for he had the experience of having been a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah since he was a young man and had seen how the gedolim from past generations had acted.
In a letter written in 1964 the Rebbe writes, "For over fifty years I am leading my flock, and in me has been fulfilled the words of the posuk 'Na'ar hoyisi gam zakanti,' for I started when I was still young, and all these years I have been working for Klal Yisroel together with the elders of the previous generation."
A later Sadiger Rebbe at the Grave of the Besht
At the fifth Knessia Gedola in 1964 in Yerushalayim, it was the Rebbe who suggested that a frum settlement should be founded in Ashdod. He was among the first who had the foresight to encourage new settlements outside Yerushalayim and Bnei Brak. In Chinuch Atzmai too, the Rebbe was very active promoting its importance and worrying for its continued existence together with other Torah organizations.
Only in 1967 when the Rebbe turned 70 did he finally agree to move out of his cramped flat to better quarters. The Rebbe insisted on staying on in Tel Aviv. In Yerushalayim and Bnei Brak there was no shortage of shuls. It was more important that he remained in Tel Aviv.
A large purpose-built flat and shul were built in northern Tel Aviv in a totally secular district, in Tammuz 1971 the building was completed and the Rebbe moved in. The new shul created a total upheaval in the lives of the local residents bringing many of them back to the path of Yiddishkeit they had forsaken years earlier.
When one of the locals thanked the Rebbe for installing air conditioning in the new beis hamedrash so that people could cool down when they come in from the street the Rebbe retorted, "I built this beis hamedrash in order that people can warm themselves up from the street and not chas vesholom to cool down!"
The Rebbe's mere presence served as a beacon of light on his new surroundings shedding a warmth on the whole area, his words and comments infusing new values into those around him. One cold winter evening, the Rebbe went out to a meeting and forgot his coat behind. Someone straight away offered to bring another coat for the Rebbe so that he shouldn't have to stand in the freezing cold, but he refused saying, "You are worried about the cold, but I am more concerned about shatnez."
In his last years the Rebbe started to rebuild the destroyed Sadiger Mosdos. Way back in 1954 the Rebbe had founded the Ruzhiner Yeshiva in Bnei Brak together with the other rebbes of the Ruzhiner dynasty. The Yeshiva had outgrown its old premises and desperately needed to move to a bigger building.
A plot of land was secured in Bnei Brak on which the new building was built being finished in 1974. Four years later the Rebbe founded a large Talmud Torah in Bnei Brak. In Yerushalayim a shul, kollel and Talmud Torah were also started.
Finally in his last year the Rebbe founded a yeshiva gedola which was built adjoining the existing yeshiva ketana in Bnei Brak.
The Sadiger Beis Medrash in Yerushalayim
In his final weeks the Rebbe became weaker and weaker. After Pesach his condition took a turn for the worse. The night of his petiroh he recited Krias Shema with Kavonos Ha'Arizal with intense concentration followed by Viduy after which he went to sleep for the night. In the early morning he asked his gabbai for a drink of water and after calmly reciting a 'Shehakol' he peacefully passed away.
Reb Gedaliah Schorr (who was a faithful chossid of the Rebbe) later explained that it is written in seforim that a tzaddik who has lived his whole life bikedushah vetahara, his every action being only to perform the Will of Hashem, such a person is zocheh that his last words in this world should also be in the same vein, 'shehakol niheya bidvoro,' confirming that everything is according to His Will.
The Rebbe was succeeded by his son Rabbi Avrohom Yaakov Friedman, who lived in Tel Aviv and was niftar in 2013. As of 2013, Sadiger had several hundred members in Israel, the United States and Europe.
The 6th rebbe, Rabbi Yisrael Moshe Friedman was niftar in Bnei Brak in 2020 aged 64. He rebuilt Sadiger buildings in Europe.
He was succeeded by his son, Rabbi Yitzchok Yehoshua Heschel Friedman.
Zechusom yogein aleinu.
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