Weekly Story: A Custom of Reb Itche the Masmid

by Rabbi Sholom DovBer Avtzon

This past week, three people asked me about a story that is told about Reb Yitzchok Horowitz / Gurewitz, who is known as Reb Itche the Masmid.

As is known, Reb Itche the Masmid was an exceptional chossid, who even on a regular weekday davened for many hours. Many people were inspired to become closer to the ways of Torah and mitzvos just by observing his conduct. The Frierdiker Rebbe appointed him as a Shadar (his personal emissary). He was also one of the chassidim that he sent to inspire the chassidim and Jews of America.

It is also known that he had accepted upon himself certain stringencies, that barely anyone else accepted upon themselves. The story I was asked, was about one of his stringencies concerning Pesach.

As always, your feedback is greatly appreciated.

It is said that on Pesach Reb Itche the Masmid barely ate anything. Now during the entire year, he ate very little to the point that the Frierdiker Rebbe once admonished him for this, so one can understand what eating very little on Pesach means.

I was told that the only things he ate on Pesach were the matza that one is obligated to eat as well as one hardboiled egg per day, that was cooked before Pesach and drank water that was also prepared before Pesach. [It isn’t noted what he ate during the seder as well as how much wine he had.]

It is well known the teaching of our sages that Rashi (Shemos 12:15) quotes, that one is obligated to eat matzah at the seder, however, there is no obligation to eat it during the other days of Pesach. [This explains why we say the brocha of al achilas matzah, only during the seder.]

So, two people asked me, why didn’t any other outstanding chossid aspire to that level of eating matzah only at the seder? Especially as then their ovens weren’t able to become as hot as the ovens nowadays, and because of that there may have been a stronger possibility of it not being 100 percent baked properly. While the third person wondered, how could such a chossid who was so meticulous in the observance of every mitzvah not wash and eat Hamotzi for seudas Shabbos and seudas Yom Tov? Yes, it is not the obligation of eating matzah on Pesach, but it stems from the obligation of eating a seudah on Yom Tov!

Normally, I wouldn’t be able to answer such a question with certainty, at best I could say my perspective on it. However, in this case I replied that the basis of the story is incorrect and therefore, their questions can be put aside.

Explaining myself I told them, my father wrote in his book, Oiros B’Afeila, that for a few months he had the honor of being in Reb Itche’s company and assisting him in whatever he needed.

When it was only a few weeks before Pesach, Reb Itche began mentioning his desire to bake matzos and the conditions he insisted on. One of the conditions was on how to prepare or kasher the oven that was used throughout the year for regular baking, to be now used to bake the matzos.

His stringencies were so overwhelming that most people in the town were fearful that their oven wouldn’t withstand the higher heat his kashering would generate. However, finally an elderly couple was found that allowed him to use their oven.

After the matzos were baked, Reb Itche made two piles, one pile was for the matzos that he definitely was not going to use, and the other pile was of those that he may use.

He then reinspected that pile and chose 15 matzos for his personal use on Pesach. Three for each of the sedorim (six in total). Then one for each of the other meals. There is a day meal on each of the first two days of Pesach, two meals for Shabbos of Chol HaMoed, and a night and day meal on each of the final two days of Yom Tov. That adds up to an additional eight; and the final matza was to be eaten at Moshiach’s seudah.

However, at each meal he ate only the amount that one is obligated to eat, and that is a k’zayis (the size equal to an olive (there are different opinions of how many grams equals a k’zayis).

So yes, he washed and ate matzah at every Yom Tov and Shabbos meal as one is supposed to (there is no guideline stating that one should eat matzah on Chol HaMoed – the intermediate days).

There is a strong possibility that other chassidim of stature conducted themselves in this way. Additionally, he did not dismiss the mitzvah of eating a meal when one is halachically supposed to.

A Taste of Chassidus

Tanya Omar Rabbe Yossi 5730

Our sages teach us that once when there was a drought in Eretz Yisroel, a delegation of sages went to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, to ask him to beseech Hashem to send rain. When they met him he expounded on the verse of נעים ומה  טוב הנה מה and rain began to pour down.

Now we have to understand why did Rabbi Shimon say a thought of Torah to bring down rain, when our sages also inform us that on a different occasion when there was a need for rain, the sages went to Choni Ha’me’agail and he davened to Hashem to send rain.

In essence we have to understand what is the difference between the power of Torah and the power of Tefillah (prayer)? And why one would use the quality and power of one or the other?

The Torah is Hashem’s wisdom, and it comes down into this world. In Chassidic terminology it is an arousal from Above. While Tefillah is a person beseeching Hashem’s mercy, and it is an arousal from below.

There is another difference between them, if a person requests assistance from someone else and that person agrees to help him, one of the first questions then asked is how much is needed to resolve this situation (or something similar)? Or for example when one asks someone to teach them.

The teacher can teach only as much as the student can grasp, anything more than that, not only wouldn’t the student comprehend it, but it may confuse them with regard to what they were able to understand. So the assistance given is on par with the request.

However, when the assistance or help comes without you requesting it, then it is not limited to your level of readiness, or needs. In Chassidic terminology this is called an arousal from Above, which is unlimited.

[For example, the sun shines on plants and helps them grow properly and at the same time it shines in the desert and makes traveling there unbearable in the heat, as well as shining on a pile of garbage creating a terrible stench.]

In other words, each approach has a certain quality or advantage over the other one. When the arousal is from below, which in other words that means it is dependent on my actions, so if I receive the amount or the level, I am ready for, I can contain it; but if it is higher than that, I won’t be able to contain it. 

[In essence this was the difference between the first Luchos and the second Luchos. When Moshe brought down the first tablets, the Jewish nation was not ready to receive it and subsequently Moshe had to destroy it. Yet after repenting, they achieved that level, so the second Luchos could remain with us.]

However, when I am receiving it because Hashem decided on His own to bestow it upon me, then it is not limited to my level.

Tefillah is when we beseech Hashem, but being that Hashem had not given it to me until now, demonstrates that presently I am not worthy of receiving it. I have to elevate myself to a higher level and then I may be worthy to receive it and contain it.

Whereas Torah signifies that it is being given to me as a present, so then even if I am not worthy, nevertheless, Hashem can grant it to me.

While some people exemplify Tefillah and others exemplify Torah, both Rabbi Shimon and Choni Ha’me’agail had both qualities. But Choni Ha’me’agail saw that if the nation would be elevated, they would be worthy of receiving the rain, so he prayed and connected himself and the Jewish people to Hashem. Subsequently they received what they were in need of.

While Rabbi Shimon realized that his present situation is different, and even if he elevated them through Tefillah, the level they would attain was still unworthy of receiving the needed rain, and therefore he had to bring it down in a manner that their level is not a condition, so he brought through Torah.

But Rabbi Shimon knew that if it is done solely through the power of Torah, it is missing the advantage and quality that comes through Tefilla; namely that the receiver can hold on to it, it is permanent and not something that may fizzle out. To accomplish this Rabbi Shimon waited until the sages came to beseech him that he intercedes on behalf of the Jewish people. That request was a tefilla, so they Jewish people then received the advantages of both Torah and Tefilla.

At the end of the maamar the Rebbe noted, that it is known that the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, did not remove its presence from Rabbi Shimon. This was to such an extent that a student of the Arizal was severely punished for saying mourning its destruction and saying the prayer of Nachem on the day of Lag Bomer.

So through connecting ourselves to Rabbi Shimon, may we merit that none of us feel the destruction, as we will have merited the building of the third Beis Hamikdash speedily in our days.

Therefore, we should all make sure to celebrate Lag Bomer this Sunday.

Rabbi Avtzon is a veteran mechanech and the author of numerous books on the Rebbeim and their chassidim. He can be contacted at avtzonbooks at gmail.com