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14th Tishrei 5787—Seventy-eighth Yahrtzeit — The Pedagogue: HaRav Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky zt'l
By Zeev Steiner
Part II
This was originally published in 1993.
For Part I of this series click here.
For Part III of this series click here.
His Life
HaRav Yosef Zvi Dushinsky zt'l was born on the 25th of Kislev 5627 (1867). His father was R' Yisroel, a nephew of the Maharam Shi"ck. As a youngster, he was renowned in his hometown of Faksch for his extraordinary talents, devotion to his learning and his deep yiras shomayim.
Following in the footsteps of his older brother R' Mattisyohu, he set out in 5640 for the yeshiva of Buniahd. There he learned Torah from the gaon HaRav Moshe Pollack, author of Vayedaber Moshe, and his father, the gaon HaRav Zeikel Pollack, an important disciple of the Chasam Sofer. Within a short time he became known as the best bochur in the yeshiva for his toil and diligence. (He was known by the honorary title of "Rosh Yeshiva," as it was then customary to call the yeshiva's top student.)
In the Bunihad Yeshiva it was the practice that one of the talmidim would deliver his chidushim every Shabbos. Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky's teachers decided that he should address the group of students on the day of his bar mitzvah. To the astonishment of the talmidim the roshei yeshiva, Reb Zeikel and his son Reb Moshe, entered the room to listen to the young bochur.
Despite the buzz of excitement which this caused, the thirteen year old Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky steeled himself and delivered a lengthy and intricate discourse. When he had finished, his teacher got up and kissed him on the forehead saying, "I am sure that you will become one of the gedolei hador!"
After five years in Bunihad he moved to the Pressburg Yeshiva where he learned at the feet of the Shevet Sofer. Young as he was, his reputation preceded him to Pressburg and the four hundred talmidim eagerly awaited the arrival of the youthful "Rosh Yeshiva" of Bunihad.
During this period of his life, he began to fast for entire days, sitting and learning without any interruption. This regimen left him severely weakened and he contracted the dreaded disease, typhus. He survived the critical stage of the illness but had to spend a whole year recuperating in his parents' home in Faksch. During this time, he learned with the Rav of Faksch, HaRav Eliezer Zusman Sofer zt'l.
He returned to Pressburg at the beginning of 5641 (1881) and some two years later he married the daughter of HaRav Mordechai Yehuda Winkler zt'l, the Av Beis Din of Mohd and author of Levushei Mordechai. HaRav Winkler greatly admired his son-in-law and recognized his potential. He therefore pressed him to accept a rabbinical post — a proposition which HaRav Dushinsky was strongly against. He felt unequal to the task and hated the idea of being placed in a position of authority over others; he wished to continue laboring in Torah learning.
The Shevet Sofer
Nevertheless, in the summer of 5653 (1893), at his father-in-law's request, HaRav Dushinsky was given smicha by two of the gedolei hador, the Shevet Sofer and HaRav Yehuda Greenwald zt'l, the Av Beis Din of Satmar.
Shortly afterwards he received an invitation from the community of Jaca, a small town near Pressburg, to serve as their rav. On his way there to deliver the customary "trial sermon" there was an accident. Falling from the wagon, HaRav Dushinsky sustained serious injuries to his head and nose. In the following letter, which he wrote years later, he hinted that the reason for the accident had been his transgression of the resolution he had made, never to deliver a "trial sermon" because of his opposition to this method of selecting rabbonim.
"...For I have always been against choosing a rav in this way, requiring him first to deliver a sermon, as though he had to undergo a test or an examination. There is no greater disgrace of the Torah's honor than this. Chazal have said that the sound of fruit trees [when blown by the wind] does not carry, i.e. they do not need to attract attention, because their fruits bear testimony about them. Rabbonim never used to be chosen this way; it was not the practice of our earlier authorities. When they wanted a particular person, they sent emissaries to him to gain an impression of his character and abilities. I broke my resolution on one occasion and was injured on the journey—may the [incident's] mention be for the good—and I ascribed it to this cause."
On the fifth of Shevat 5652 (1892), tragedy struck when R' Mattisyohu Dushinsky passed away. The two brothers had been very close. Then, just three days later, R' Yisroel Dushinsky, their father, also passed away.
Depressed and brokenhearted from the double blow, HaRav Dushinsky wrote to family members, "...and since I have lost all of them, what is left for me? In what can I rejoice? How can I retrieve what I have lost?...nevertheless, I apply the words of Dovid Hamelech, a"h, to myself, "If not for Your Torah, my delight, I would have perished in my affliction," for I do not know how it is possible to bear it all."
During the year of mourning, he wrote down his chidushim on Maseches Moed Katan and in place of an introduction, he eulogized his beloved ones and accepted the Divine decree.
In 5651, a bitter dispute had broken out in Galante concerning the Rabbinate. The conflict lasted a long time and many of the gedolei hador expressed their views on the matter. The affair ended when a beis din ruled against the son-in-law of the previous rav being appointed to the position. The community then invited HaRav Dushinsky to serve as their rav and, early in the year 5655 (1894), he was installed as rav of Galante.
Slovakia
In his first sermon he called for strengthening religious standards in the areas of education, modest dress and kashrus. When attempts were made by supporters of the rav whose candidacy had been the cause of the long-standing dispute, to slight HaRav Dushinsky's honor, they failed and Divine justice was meted out to the perpetrators, who all sustained damages of one kind or another.
This however, did not silence the other rav's group of supporters. After Mahary"tz's first year in Galante, the group informed the gentile authorities that the community's existence was illegal. The regional governor issued orders that the beis hamedrash and the yeshiva be closed down. The attempts of the lay leaders to have the order rescinded were of no avail. All seemed lost until help arrived through a surprising chain of circumstances.
In Adar 5656, the father of a chosson who would be getting married in Galante, asked the Mahary"tz to honor him by attending the wedding meal. Although HaRav Dushinsky usually turned down all such requests because of his commitments to the yeshiva, he accepted this particular invitation, much to the surprise of his family.
Heaven had arranged that one of the other guests at the wedding meal was the Director of the Regional Ministry, who was very impressed with the Rav's speech, promising his help with any legal problem the Rav may encounter. The Director's promise was taken up and, thanks to his intervention, the congregation was issued the necessary permit within one week.
The Mahary"tz's first rebbetzin passed away on the seventeenth of Cheshvan 5679. Some two years later, he married his second wife, the daughter of HaRav Yoel Tzvi Niehaus zt'l. She bore him one son, HaRav Yisroel Moshe Dushinsky, who succeeded him as rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Beis Yosef Tzvi in Jerusalem and is a member of the beis din of the Eida HaChareidis.
In 5680 (1920), HaRav Dushinsky was invited to serve as the rav of Choust (where his great uncle the Maharam Shick had once served). As rav of Choust, he continued the pattern which had brought him his reputation as a godol beTorah, an educator and a staunch defender of eternal and holy Jewish values.
He paid his first visit to Eretz Yisroel in Adar 5692 (1932). In that month, HaRav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld passed away, with Mahary"tz Dushinsky sitting at his bedside, weeping profusely. The chachamim of Yerushalayim and the leaders of the Eida decided to choose HaRav Dushinsky as successor to HaRav Sonnenfeld. (During his last days, HaRav Sonnenfeld himself had also hinted that this was his wish.) R' Chaim Ozer Grodzensky zt'l and the Gerrer Rebbe, the Imrei Emes, zt'l also gave the appointment their blessings.
HaRav Dushinsky returned to his community in Choust for a short time at the end of which they bid him an emotional farewell. As he approached Yerushalayim, thousands awaited him at the entrance to the city. From the very beginning of his communal leadership in Eretz Yisroel, he devoted himself to education, fighting against the modern schools that were undermining authentic Torah education, while devoting the major part of his time and strength to teaching Torah in his own yeshiva.
He passed away on Erev Succos 5709 (1949) and was interred in an improvised burial ground next to the old Sha'arei Tzedek hospital, due to the fact that shortly before, the Jordanian Arabs had blocked off access to Har HaZeisim. Yerushalayim's leading rabbonim eulogized him, weeping over Eretz Yisroel's great loss.
The Road That Leads To Torah
"This is the way of Torah—eat bread with salt and drink water in measure..." says the Mishna in Avos. Why, asked Mahary'tz, does the Tanna use the particular word, "the way of Torah", rather than say, "the life of Torah"?
He would explain that refraining from indulgences is necessary, not only while one is actually learning, but even before starting to learn. While still on the road towards Torah, prior to arriving, one must become used to living on only bread with salt and water by measure. HaRav Dushinsky's father's household was a poor one and as a young man, Mahary'tz accustomed himself to subsisting on the barest minimum.
In later years he would describe how he used to ration his meals until all the money which he had set aside for spending on food was finished. When he found himself left with no choice but to take from the money he was keeping for travelling expenses, he would suddenly receive funds from another source, which would be enough to last him for another month. He would conclude his recollections of Hashem's kindnesses by relating that from that period onward, he undertook to sleep one hour less every day and to devote that hour to learning with great enthusiasm. This was a token of his gratitude for all the good that Hashem bestowed on him.
Occasionally, he was able to earn money by tutoring the yeshiva's weaker students. The boys' parents would pay him to implant Torah and understanding in their sons' hearts. Mahary'tz once wrote to his brother, "As regards the learning—as of yet I have no idea whether I will be learning with a bochur. I will certainly accept one, if at all possible, aware as I am of the numerous troubles and travails and the meager upkeep of my father's house."
On the other hand, when his father wanted to send him some money to Bunihad, Mahary'tz strenuously objected. He wrote to his father, "What you wrote about sending me money—my beloved father, is this not what we spoke to you about in Faksch? We said, leave us and we will serve "Mitzrayim" [i.e. we are prepared to suffer]. Even if we don't have wine, meat or other delicacies, I make myself happy with dry bread and with [teaching] pupils ...from the one who seeks your welfare, your son."
Frugality was not the only preparation for learning which Mahary'tz instilled into his talmidim. Hand in hand with training their minds and hearts in how to learn, he cultivated fine character traits in them. He considered correct behavior as such an inseparable aspect of a talmid chacham's character that he once said, "If you see a talmid whose traits are deficient, you should know that he has not yet learned as much as he needs to."
Proper behavior was not only for dealing with others; it belonged in the beis hamedrash too. His own example began during his shiurim in gemora, with the attitude of awed respect which he adopted towards the Rishonim whose Torah he learned.
"The higher the level a person reaches," he wrote in one of his seforim, the more he should realize how slight is his own worth and how lowly his station, compared with gedolim in his own generation—kal vochomer with those of the previous generation!"
He continues,"He should study the words of the Rishonim and the early Acharonim in fear and trembling, in the knowledge that he is of negligible character and worth next to them. He should not presume to launch in darkness the arrows of his own critical comments. He should rather take the trouble to consider the matter in depth, in order to reconcile what they wrote. He should never use any term which does not befit their great honor."
To illustrate what he meant, he once told his talmidim to consider how the Rishonim themselves respected their own predecessors. See with what honor and respect the Tosafos discuss the words of Rashi, who was almost their contemporary. They do not attack him in an attempt to obliterate whatever he said. On the contrary, it is clear from their language that they are trying to sustain what he said. They write, "ve'im tomar—and if you say"—in other words, perhaps you will say this, maybe you will think of some difficulty or refutation of the holy Rashi. "And if you say...so and so"—but it is not so! Ve'yesh lomar—you can say," in other words, that in fact, it is not so..."
Neither was this attitude reserved only for our greatest sages. The Ramban writes (in Igeres Ha'Ramban) "let every man seem superior to you, in your eyes."
Once he demonstrated the degree of importance which he attached to treating others respectfully. One day, at the end of the shiur, he called one of the talmidim over and reprimanded him harshly and in public.
This talmid was stunned by the rebuke. It was known that the Rosh Yeshiva almost never resorted to such methods. Usually, it was enough for him to shoot a piercing glance which went right through the talmid. If something sterner was called for, he would summon the talmid to his room and rebuke him privately. Never though, did the Rosh Yeshiva deliver a public telling-off such as this.
The talmid's friends tried to extract from him what he had done to earn himself such treatment but he himself didn't know the answer. His learning and his tefillah were as they should have been; there seemed to be no good reason for the Rosh Yeshiva's behavior. The talmid went around in very low spirits for a long time, until he plucked up the courage to go into his rebbe. With tears in his eyes, he asked to be told what it was that he had done to which the Rosh Yeshiva had taken such great exception. The answer he received astonished him.
That week, a wedding had been held which had been attended by bochurim from the yeshiva. This talmid had an altercation with one of the waiters and in his anger, he had directed certain word towards the man. This word had seemed to the waiter like an insult and he had taken offense. Being a simple man, the waiter had immediately gone off to HaRav Dushinsky's home to complain to him about it. That single derogatory word, spoken to the waiter at the wedding, had been the cause of the Rosh Yeshiva's outburst. A bochur who learned Torah could simply not afford to lapse and speak in a way that could be construed by others as insulting.
Once, offering guidance in a letter, Mahary'tz wrote, "While everybody needs to see that he speaks calmly to each and every person, how much more so, must one who has the merit to learn Torah, be careful about every single word he utters and every step he takes being upright in the eyes of man and Hashem."
End of Part II
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