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The Kohen Godol: HaRav Aryeh Leib HaKohen Heller
By Yisroel Holland
Originally published in 1993, 32 years ago.
Part 1
Not too many people have heard of R' Arye Leib HaKohen Heller by name, but nearly everyone in the Torah community is familiar with the Ketzos HaChoshen, which he wrote.
Author of three works which truly illuminated the eyes of all Israel: Ketzos HaChoshen on Chosen Mishpat; Avnei Milu'im on Even HaEzer and Shev Shmaitsa, on seven highly complicated Talmudic topics, he was virtually unknown during the early years of his life. But now his works form the basis for the analytic method that is practiced in virtually every yeshiva today.
Razintov (or Rozniatow), which was not far from Zhidichov, was no different from any other Galician village. It wasn't a bustling commercial center, nor a regional city nor a busy port. It boasted no famous yeshivos or outstanding Torah centers. On the surface, it was merely a village like all the rest. On the surface, we say—for its chief rabbi was none other than R' Arye Leib HaKohen, whose greatness at first eluded even his own townsmen.
The main shul of Rozhinkov
Torah In Poverty
Were we to say that R' Arye Leib was the poorest man in town, we would not be exaggerating, for the meager salary he received did not even cover his bare needs. He lived in a shabby house (if one can call a dilapidated shed a house) whose door bore a sign with the name, Heller. In the winter, he froze. In the summer, he sweltered. A board, supported by two barrels, served as his bed. Another board, similarly supported, served as his table.
Yet all this did not deter him for poring over our sacred Torah day and night!
But of what avail the table, when he had to remain under the threadbare blankets of his table-like bed in order to be able to concentrate on his Torah studies and compose brilliant chidushim?
One morning, he removed his shivering hand from under the covers, grasped his frozen inkwell and rubbed it against his body. The meager amount of heat thereby produced defrosted some of the ink. Carefully, he dipped his quill into the tiny bottle, and began to commit his chidushim to writing. At the head of the paper, in small, round letters, he wrote: Ketzos HaChoshen.
R' Arye Leib devoted many years—and all his strength and energy— to this endeavor. He would arise in the morning, when his mind was clear, he told his close friend, the famous R' Yaakov Loberbaum of Lisa, author of Nesivos HaMishpat, and review the chidushim of the previous day—at times deleting, at times adding, at times, erasing, correcting, changing, and even rewriting the entire text.
When he finished, he would forge ahead and formulate new chidushim, rising the next morning to review them, too. Every letter, even every crownlet, of the Ketzos HaChoshen merited his undivided attention and meticulous care, and was scrutinized over and over again. He once said that the final, printed version of the Ketzos had been edited and revised completely four or five times prior to its publication.
The first volume of Ketzos HaChoshen was published 237 years ago in Levov. It opens with these words:
"I bow down before the eternal G-d...You have dealt kindly with me... for the sake of my fathers who served You in purity. Your counsel shall guide me. You sustained me when I was hungry. You spared me from the sword and delivered me from pestilence and grave illness... You have caused me to suffer, but have not abandoned me to death... All this You have done, not on my merit, but on their merit and on the merit of my father, my teacher, the most eminent R' Yosef HaKohen z'l. May I learn from his ways, and follow in his steps, along the path of the Tree of Life."
The lake in Rozhinkov
Merit of Forefathers
Who are those ancestors for whose sake he was delivered from woe? In order to understand this passage of the Ketzos, we must go back in time.
R' Arye Leib was born in 5505 (1745). His father, R' Yosef, was the grandson of the son-in-law of R' Yom Tov Lipman Heller, the Tosafos Yom Tov. R' Yosef had four sons. The oldest was R' Yehuda Kahane, the author of Kuntress HaSfeikos and Terumas HaKeri. The second was R' Chaim, a well-known maggid meisharim. The third was the Ketzos HaChoshen, and the fourth, R' Mordechai HaKohen, Av Beis Din of Chodorov, and head of the community of Ungvar.
After R' Yosef's death, all the brothers met in the home of R' Mordechai, who had abandoned his rabbinical position in order to devote himself to Torah study for its own sake. Unlike his other brothers, he engaged in business for a livelihood.
The four sparred together in learning. After a long and heated debate, R' Mordechai emerged the victor. At the end of the debate, the family's matriarch, Maras Nissel, who lived at her son's home, rose from her bed and broke out in a joyous dance.
"Aha!" she cried. "My son the businessman is still great in Torah, like his other brothers."
Three kohanim gedolim lived in Kalish at that time: R' Binyomin HaKohen Rappaport, author of Gevulos Binyomin, R' Shimon HaKohen, one of the rabbonim of the yeshiva in Kalish, and R' Yosef HaKohen.
In 5531, a startling event rocked the city. In a fiery sermon, R' Binyomin HaKohen revealed that Heaven had decreed that the entire city would be stricken by the plague. There was only one way to annul that decree: the residents of Kalish would have to leave town, and the three kohanim would depart to a better world. "Yosef is no more; Shimon is no more, and take Binyomin."
That very year, on the thirteenth of Cheshvan, R' Yosef HaKohen died. The maggid died on the seventh of Kislev, and R' Shimon on the twenty-fourth.
"From pestilence You have saved me, and from devastating diseases, You have spared me...on the their merit and on the merit of Abba, my teacher.. one of the bnei aliya..."
A map of Rozhinkov in the 1930s
Worldwide Fame
In time, R' Arye Leib became Chief Rabbi of Razintov, a village where he studied Torah in dire poverty. "And the Torah he studied under duress, remained with him."
Although not all the Torah giants of his generation were acquainted with him, many knew that the sun's light had begun to glow in the small village. One time, R' Efraim Zalman Margolios of Brody, who had merited both Torah ugedulah al shulchan achas, came to visit him.
"Aha," R' Arye Leib sighed. "How denigrated is Torah's honor in our generation."
"I do not agree with you," replied R' Efraim. "I have travelled to a distant city only to honor you."
Smiling, R' Arye Leib replied: "Were you not a talmid chochom yourself, you would not have come here. It is because you are a talmid chochom that you are compelled to visit other students of the Torah."
In 5548, R' Arye Leib made a temporary move to Levov in order to print his sefer Ketzos HaChoshen. There he met Torah giants and talmidei chachomim who recognized his greatness and remarkable brilliance. Among them was the city's rav, the Yeshuas Yaakov.
One day, he visited the rav's beis din while its members were discussing a pressing and complicated problem. To the surprise of all, after a brief moment's thought, he resolved the problem which had occupied the beis din and Levov's rabbonim for weeks.
The rav, R' Yaakov Orenstein, took him home and introduced him to his son, Mordechai Zeev, who was also a great Torah scholar. R' Zeev began to recite his chidushim before the guest. Throughout the discourse R' Arye Leib remained silent, his hand cupped over his forehead. He seemed not to understand the lecture. R' Mordechai Zeev was sure that the guest was obtuse, and relayed his impressions to his father. With that, his father motioned to his guest, who rose and casually refuted the basis of the entire thesis of the surprised R' Mordechai Zeev.
R' Arye Leib had arrived in Levov in order to publish the first volume of the Ketzos. He was accompanied by his brother, R' Yehuda, who had come to assist him. That very year, the first volume saw the light of day. It ended at section 132 of Choshen Mishpat.
This work took the Torah world by storm. Analytical in nature, it gained rapid fame among the Torah scholars of the time. Great rabbonim, among them R' Meshulem Igra, Av Beis Din of Pressburg, locked themselves in their rooms, and reviewed the new sefer from cover to cover. R' Arye Leib had studied with him in his youth.
Not long after the book's publication, R' Arye Leib visited R' Meshulem at his home. While there, he began to recite his chidushim on a particular Rambam. The brilliant R' Meshulem, who grasped the method of the Ketzos immediately, remarked: "You meant to say that..."
These words discouraged R' Arye Leib. "If so," he despondently replied, "why should I toil in Torah and formulate chidushim? Please apprise me of all the chidushim I am likely to make from paragraph 133 onward."
"As a result of this occurrence, R' Meshulem resolved to fast every Monday and Thursday on a permanent basis."
That year, 5548, the city of Starri appointed him rav. At first he occupied a temporary position. One day, he visited the Chavas Da'as, R' Yaakov Loberbaum. R' Yaakov, who was deeply impressed by R' Arye Leib, expressed dismay over the fact that R' Arye hadn't received a permanent post, especially since such a position was available. But R' Arye merely smiled and said: "Don't be upset. My position is not a real position, but my city is not a real city!"
The Ketzos and the Nesivos
A deep bond of friendship developed between these two gedolim. The Chavas Da'as, who completed his Nesivos HaMishpat before R' Arye Leib finished his second volume of the Ketzos, mentions the Ketzos many times throughout his book, and in nearly every instance criticizes him.
Nesivos HaMishpat was not as widely circulated as the immensely popular Ketzos. R' Arye attributes this to the different styles of the two works. "Although the Nesivos was written in the wee hours of the morning, when its author's mind was clear," he said, "he did not review and revise it the way I did my book."
Of course, all this does not detract from the value of the Nesivos, which to this very day is considered one of the yeshiva world's main study guides, and occupies a prestigious place on the bookshelves of every place of Torah learning. Indeed, the criticisms of the Nesivos are the only ones R' Arye Leib ever took pains to refute.
In his introduction to the kuntress, Meshovev Nesivos, which his sons published after his death, he writes:
"Hashem has helped me to publish two volumes of the Ketzos HaChoshen, and I rejoice that with His help, I have not labored in vain and my efforts have borne fruit. Wise men have praised and lauded it, and this is the reward for my toil. How delighted I was to learn that one of the most esteemed scholars of our time, my dear friend, the gaon , author of Nesivos HaMishpat, criticized the first volume of the Ketzos, and noted all the points which, in his opinion, are invalid or faulty.
"However, people do not always agree, and even a Talmudic work may be rejected by one scholar, and acclaimed by others. When I reviewed the objections of the Nesivos, I felt that they were insufficient and not to the point. As a result, I decided to prepare a written reply to him. Since my remarks are short, and there is very little novelty in them but they are mainly explanations of my previous words, I have appended them to my sefer, Avnei Milu'im on the Shulchan Oruch, Even HaEzer. I have referred to them as Meshovev Nesivos, because they are replies to the criticisms of the Nesivos, and they reinstate my earlier path.
"May my little sefer be read by chachomim, who will decide who is correct. I pray that my work finds favor in their eyes."
He also says: "The Nesivos visited me, and brought some printed pages with him. I debated with him, and then and there, he admitted that I was correct, and recalled that Rashi had made the same comments."
The Nesivos managed to reply to Meshovev Nesivos,in the second edition of his sefer, which is appended to the Shulchan Oruch.
Another talmid chochom, who hoped that his criticisms would merit R' Arye Leib's attention, was told: "I will yet answer you." When that talmid chochom received no answer from R' Arye, Leib, he journeyed to Starri to complain.
"What I meant was," R' Arye Leib told him, "as soon as you write a sefer comparable to the Nesivos, I will answer your objections."
This incident, of course, highlights the extent of R' Arye Leib's regard for the Nesivos to whose criticism he responded because he so esteemed him.
End of Part 1
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