Rav Mani of Hevron, stolen tzedaka, and the Chief Rabbi of Crimea

The Rav’s recent shiurim have been awesome.

Here is another excerpt of a shiur, that contains so much information and ‘clues’, I will be working on this probably all of next week, to tease out more of the real information.

In the meantime, enjoy!

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BTW – I put all of the translated text from the Rav (or quotes from anyone I quote here on the blog) in the quote formatting, which is the yellow-orange line with indented text.

When you see text with that formatting, it’s a quote, not my words.

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Excerpt of a shiur given by Rav Berland at Melave Malka, Motzae Shabbat, Parshat Korach 5784, (July 7th, 2024)

Translated from Shivivei Or, 368.

So, there was a machloket (controversy) of the  matter of tzedaka for Eretz Yisrael, ShM’Z[1] (?) [in the section entitled] Conversations and Stories.

Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk was already in Eretz Yisrael.

The Rebbe of Chabad, the Baal HaTanya, was in charge of the kupah (fund) of Eretz Yisrael, and all his cholkim (detractors) accused him of stealing the money for himself.[2]

That he was the greatest thief, like they accuse Shuvu Banim, that they are the greatest thieves.

The Rebbe said: chas v’shalom!

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The Chatam Sofer made an halachic ruling – the Chatam Sofer, in 5600, (1840), 30 years after Rabbenu, that at the moment a person pledges tzedaka for Eretz Yisrael, the first thing is Jerusalem.

Because those who lived in Tiberius said that ‘the first thing is Tiberius, this is the main ikker [fig: location] of the yishuv (settlement of Eretz Yisrael).

There wasn’t a yishuv in Jerusalem.

Slowly, slowly, it blossomed, in the beginning, it was in Tiberius.

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So, those who were in Tiberius said that the money was meant for Tiberius, but the Chatam Sofer ruled that always, it needs to be sent [first] to Jerusalem, first, to the poor of Jerusalem.

And whatever was left – to share it out equally, [between] Hevron, Tsfat and Tiberius.

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There are four holy cities [in Eretz Yisrael].

Four cities: Hevron – there, there was the Rav Mani[3]. HaRav Mani was the Chief Rabbi of Hevron, there, there were all the rabbonim.

There was there the ‘Chessed L’Avraham’, and there was there the ‘Sdei Chemed’ – he’s buried in Hevron still today.

The rabbis came to visit him [the Sdei Chemed], he said: “Stay here, don’t go back to Russia.”

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And he was the Chief Rabbi of Crimea.

Because they suspected him in Istanbul, they suspected him. They paid money to the cleaner, who cleaned the synagogue, they paid her an enormous sum of money.

In the end, he confessed to the Beit Din that she was paid money, but he’d already lost the Chief Rabbi [position] in Istanbul.

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He was the greatest rav of all the generations, in the whole world.

He [wrote] like that, 14 books, ‘Sdei Chemed’, but his opponents, his detractors, succeeded in kicking him out of Istanbul, with false accusations.

He was the Rav of Crimea, and in the end he decided that he wanted dafka to be in Eretz Yisrael, to be buried in Hevron, next to the ‘Reishit Chochma’.

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And so, he came to Hevron.

The rabbis came from Crimea, there were also chief rabbis. He said to them:

Stay here, if you go back – nothing will remain of you.

And so it was. Everyone went back, and not even a single child remains. All of them ascended al kiddush Hashem (were killed in the sanctification of God’s name.)

Part of them became communists, part the Nazis murdered.

The Nazis slaughtered all the Jews, six million Jews.

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Like it was here, on Simchat Torah, where Jews went straight to Gan Eden.

And people went to Be’eri, they wanted to celebrate Simchat Torah in Be’eri, from Nahariya, from Acco, from the whole country, they travelled to Be’eri – but the directly went to Gan Eden.

They merited to go straight to Gan Eden.

But we wanted them stay here, a little, that they would be with us. But we didn’t merit [for this to happen].

But they went straight to Gan Eden.

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The Rebbe said that Simchat Torah is the biggest day.

So, Hashem opened the gates of Gan Eden for them, all of them entered straight into Gan Eden.

There were a few who came to Shuvu Banim, so they were saved, in Alumim, in all the places in the kibbutzim.

If they came to Shuvu Banim for Simchat Torah, so they stayed alive.

But the rest merited to eternal life, to chai netzach, which is far more lofty.

“[People] had never heard, never observed, no eye had ever seen a god – except for You – that acted for those who await Him.”[4]

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The Martyrs of Lod – those who were killed for kiddush Hashem – no creation can stand in their place.[5]

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The Rebbe, the Rebbe – he’s responsible for everything.

The Rebbe is responsible for the war on Simchat Torah, the Rebbe is responsible for the war now in Gaza.

All of this is only Rabbenu.

Rabbenu is managing the wars, wars I have made.

It’s written in [Tractate] Avoda Zara: Milchamot A-n-i asiti (wars I have made).

All the wars, Hashem is managing them,

Because when Jews are killed al kiddush Hashem, they go straight to Gan Eden.

We need them here, we want them here, that they should do teshuva.

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FOOTNOTES:

[1] I don’t know what this acronym stands for, it doesn’t fit the works of Rabbenu I am familiar with. If a reader can tell me what it’s referring to, I’d be very grateful.

[2] In the National Library in Israel, there is a doctoral dissertation typewritten (!) that contains excerpts of letters from Avraham Kalisker, head of the Chassidic yishuv in Tiberius, stating clearly that the Alter Rebbe was refusing to release charity funds to R Kalisker, unless R Kalisker wrote in praise of the Tanya.

R Kalisker explains that he is totally unable to do that – and also states that if any of the money from the Alter Rebbe in the past was also given with that condition attached, i.e. that R Kalisker should publically write in support of the Tanya, he wants to repay every penny. I will try and track down R Kalisker’s actual words next time I go to the NIL.

[3] Rav Mani was a friend of the Ben Ish Chai – his story is a whole, big mess. I’ll follow this up more in part II. There’s something VERY strange going on with it all. Even by my standards of very strange.

[4] Yeshayahu 64:3.

[5] Lit: ‘In their mechitzah’.

1 reply
  1. Nahman
    Nahman says:

    הלומד פרק אחד לעילוי נשמתו או מזמור אחד שכמ”ה

    (שכרו כפול מן השמים)

    “The one who studies one Pereq for the elevation of my soul or recites one Mizmor will have their reward doubled from Heaven.”

    Written on the kevee of the Sdei Chemed HaQadoch veHaNorah zatsal

    Reply

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