Many who have collected old books or family history, or even
discovered a box of old letters and pictures in the attic,
will recall the thrill of discovering the human side of our
ancestors.
The history of the Jewish people is intimately tied between
Seforim and Mishpachology (family history). The
Jewish people's only enduring records between exiles, pogroms
and wanderings are often found not in the land offices or the
population registries, but in the seforim that rabbis
wrote, printed and carried with them from golus to
golus.
As a Judaica researcher, bibliographer, and more recently
virtual bookseller, for almost thirty years, I have had many
stories of strange connections, serendipity and siyata
deShmaya. For example, from unforeseen connections we
once found a Responsa which helped a bet din give
permission for a girl from an unclear family background to
marry.
However, the following story from last year is one of the
most remarkable episodes I have ever encountered. Not only
because of the chain of events that brought the document into
my hands, but even more so because of the powerful and
amazing human story that it uncovered.
*
In a sense, we were looking for a proverbial needle in a
haystack. Our correspondent, Mr. Jonathan Hodes of London,
was looking for a hesped of Rebbetzin Chaya Shatzkes-
Blazer, his wife's great-great-grandmother. All he knew about
it was that it was printed in an Eretz Yisroel
newspaper sometime before the Israeli War of Independence
(5708-1948).
In a sense the problem was solved even before it started
since another descendant of this great lady is a well-known
talmid chochom with whom I daven every morning
who had once seen the hesped. However, he didn't have
a copy of the hesped and though he had seen it, he
couldn't recall which relative had shown him the eulogy.
So we set out on a fruitless chase through most of the major
Jewish archives in Israel and New York. In the end, we found
the hesped very close by, here in Yerushalayim.
Originally, we expected that the hesped would have
been printed in 1945, on the first yahrzeit of the
Rebbetzin, and therefore would be included in the Hebrew
University microfilm copy. However it turned out that it was
printed much later, in 1947, a year which was missing from
the microfilm archive.
This was a story in itself. The hesped was actually
written shortly after the Rebbetzin passed away, but was only
finally printed a full three years later. Her twice son- in-
law (he married two of her daughters) the well-known rov of
Kernick, HaRav Chizkiyohu Yosef Mishkovsky, had prepared it
for the chareidi journal Neeman which that year ceased
publishing in Tel Aviv. Then unfortunately HaRav Mishkovsky
(father of HaRav Refael Eliyohu Mishkovsky, current rosh
yeshiva of Kfar Chasidim) himself passed away, and the eulogy
was only found by chance among his personal papers and
printed in another chareidi newspaper called HaDerech,
which also ceased publishing shortly after that time.
In the end, a family member led us to another family member
and then to a little known archive in the Bais Yaakov
HaYoshon Jerusalem Seminary Library, where an older teacher
had saved a copy in a scrapbook.
Family research is a great pastime and can dig up very
meaningful stories for the people involved. However after I
discovered the hesped of Rebbetzin Chaya Shatzkes-
Blazer I really felt that I had found on this very last piece
of newsprint from 1947 a forgotten testimony to mesiras
nefesh which is unknown in our generation.
This great woman, widowed at a young age with four small
children in Lithuania, chose to remarry one of the
talmidim of Rav Yisroel Salanter, one of the
gedolei hamussar HaRav Itsele Peterburger, who was 27
years older than she, since she believed that he alone would
be a suitable father for her children. Indeed her son Rav
Moshe Shatzkes became one of the gedolei Torah in
Lithuania and the USA after the war.
The article describes how she then followed her husband to
Eretz Yisroel at a time when people here were not sure
they would have food to eat; how she became a mother of young
children again when her daughter passed away at the age of 26
and left her with four orphaned grandchildren while their
father, Rav Chizkiyohu Yosef Mishkovsky, was delayed in
Europe unable to return for the duration of the entire First
World War; and how, despite a crippling injury, she became
like a mother to all the bnei yeshivas in Lithuania
and Eretz Yisroel.
I once heard that Rav Boruch Ber Leibowitz of Kamenitz, when
asked to tell stories of the gedolim of the last
generation, answered that he'd prefer to tell stories of the
great Jewish Mamas of the last generation. As her 51st
Yahrzeit approaches I feel it is an obligation to share this
hesped with the readers of Yated. Here then is
a story of a truly great Jewish Mother!
*
Translators note: We thank Rav Chizkiyohu Mishkovksy, the
Abramowitz family and the Bais Yaakov archive for their help
in obtaining a copy of this hesped. Rav Itsele Blazer
and his Rebbetzin went to Eretz Yisroel in 1904, and
settled in the famous Strauss Courtyard in
Yerushalayim.
Thursday, Parshas Devorim, 7th of Menachem Av 5707,
24.7.47
Editor's (HaDerech) note:
This article was found among the papers of HaRav Chizkiyohu
Yosef Mishkovsky zt"l. Apparently the Rov had prepared
this hesped on the first yahrzeit of his mother-
in-law, for publication in the journal Neeman which
was printed in Tel Aviv. However when the Neeman
ceased publication, the article remained unpublished. We
are printing the article now out of respect for the greatness
of the author.
*
Today, the 8th of Av the eve of Tisha B'Av, is the
yahrzeit of the famous tzaddeikess HaRabbonit
Chaya Blazer, the widow of the great Gaon HaRav Yitzchok
(Itsele) Blazer. As her levaya took place on Friday
afternoon, there wasn't sufficient time for the many great
rabbis that attended her funeral to eulogize her adequately.
So in order to pay proper respect to her greatness and
importance, I decided to write a eulogy and print it in
HaNeeman which is the organ of the bnei yeshivos,
most of whom are the students of the students of my
master, teacher and father-in-law HaRav Yitzchok Blazer
zt"l.
The older rabbonim gedolei mussar and roshei yeshiva
who are still with us and who studied with Rav Itsele in
Slobodka and Kovno and visited his home, remember and praise
to this day the eishes chover, the great woman who was
like a mother to the bnei yeshivos. All the more so
myself: for me she was a caring mother each day so that I
should fulfill the words of Shlomo HaMelech: " . . . and her
sons will praise her."
She was a great woman in every sense. Not only from the
aspect of her illustrious ancestors — but she herself
was a great woman in her knowledge of G-d and in her fear of
G-d. She was a great woman in her wisdom, in her wonderful
character traits and in her great deeds.
Her great-grandfather HaRav Yonoson Davidovsky was famous for
an episode in which he stopped a fire which was raging
through the town by simply addressing it: "You have burned
and destroyed enough." Her grandfather HaRav Chaim, av
beis din of Zelleve, was among the rabbonim who
frequently corresponded with HaRav Yitzchok Elchonon Spector.
And her father HaRav Avrohom Abba Sherwinter was a talmid
chochom and important lay leader in the Vilna community.
On the side of her mother, she was descended from HaRav
Eliyohu Eliezer, the son-in-law of HaRav Yisroel Salanter and
the father-in-law of Rav Chaim Ozer Grodensky.
At the age of 18, my mother-in-law married HaRav Avrohom
Aaron Shatzkes who was an illui from one of the
leading families in Lithuania. However at the age of 24, her
husband passed away and she became a young widow with four
small children, including a baby who was born at the very
hour her husband's levaya was taking place.
As a beautiful young woman, full of life and from a famous
family, she was offered outstanding matches for a second
marriage but she turned them all down. Instead she remarried,
on the advice of her uncle HaRav Eliyohu Eliezer, a widower,
HaRav Yitzchok Blazer, who was at the time in his fifties.
When asked why she took Rav Itsele she explained that with
him alone was she assured that her children would grow up as
bnei Torah. And indeed this is what happened.
Rav Itsele related to her children as if they were his own
and and cared for them from their childhood until their
marriages. Indeed her son HaRav Moshe Shatzkes, the Lomza
Rov, became one of the leading rabbonim in Lithuania and,
after the war, in New York.
If as a young woman my mother-in-law had the foresight and
maturity to make such radical decisions, her exceptional
wisdom stood out all the more so as the wife and companion of
Rav Itsele. In Slobodka the students not only sought out her
advice but trusted her in word and deed as they would their
own mother. Important rabbonim have told me that during their
days as yeshiva bochurim in Slabodka, far away from
their own families, that she worked to get boys admitted even
where the Alter had previously refused. She found them
shidduchim and arranged and even helped fund their
weddings. HaRav Aharon Bakst and others from his time were
known to have called her Ima.
Greatness in suffering: In the winter of 5661 (1901)
she fell and broke her leg badly. The injury never healed
properly and she suffered from intense pain for the rest of
her life. She even was able to joke about her pain and would
say the suffering is good for you and atones for your sins.
In 5773 (1913), while I was in Europe, her own favorite
daughter, my wife, passed away at the age of 26 leaving her
to care for four orphans. She accepted G-d's will with
nobility and even tried to conceal my wife's illness from
me.
Again in her old age she was house-bound for seven years.
Nevertheless she always found a way to see the positive side
and to make light of her situation. She always looked forward
to guests and prepared for her many guests and family, each
one according to his personal likes and dislikes. Later on
she was paralyzed and bed-ridden yet she never complained and
accepted her suffering with good will.
Greatness in deeds and kindness: She was outstanding
in her mitzva of hachnosas kallah and raised money and
help for many poor kallot. She personally cared for
depressed and sick women who were her neighbors. She wouldn't
allow heself to rest during the day: Perhaps a poor person
would come to the door and find it locked. She always acted
with forethought, weighing her options choosing the best
alternative and carrying out her plan with grace and
lightness. Gedolei Torah came to her door and sought
her advice in family matters.
In 1913, I left home [Note: The author and his family were
then living in Eretz Yisroel] alone to accept a
rabbinical position in Lithuania. My children remained with
my mother-in-law (in Palestine). In the summer of 1914 she
traveled to Europe to bring my children to me with the
intention of returning to Eretz Yisroel immediately.
However a few weeks later the war broke out and she was
stranded in Europe with me for over eight years until 1922.
Notwithstanding her isolation from her own home and family,
she ran my home and, even in the worst hours of food
shortages and all the difficulties of the war, she managed to
successfully run my home and educate my children.
Immediately when a boat was available to return to Eretz
Yisroel, she booked her return and from then on refused
to leave Yerushalayim in fear that she might pass away and
not obtain a burial place on Har HaZeisim.
My father-in-law Rav Itsele treated her with greater honor
than he treated himself. During Ellul it was his custom not
to speak at all divrei chullin. On several occasions
during those annual periods, people asked the Rebbetzin when
did her husband become ill and suffer from becoming dumb.
Others sympathized with her: a young woman married to an old
man who could not speak.
Erev Yom Kippur it was his custom to ask her for forgiveness
as he understood that there is no difference between the
obligation to ask forgiveness from a friend or neighbor or
from one's wife.
Before my father-in-law passed away he apologized to my
mother-in-law for not leaving her any inheritance, but he
blessed her that she would never lack anything and that she
would live a long life. She often mentioned that indeed she
lived a long life in the merit of her husband's blessing.
HaRav Chaim Ozer gave her great honor and treated her like
one of the gedolei Torah (she was his
shadchan). After Rav Itsele passed away gedolei
Yerushalayim used to come to her before Yom Kippur to get
her brochoh. These included not only her husband's
students such as Rav Leib Chasman but also other gedolei
Yerushalaim such as HaRav Ben Zion Yadler.
She was relatively young when Rav Itsele died (only 48) and
full of life and several important rabbonim sought to marry
her. However she was adamant that she did not want to allow
the memory of her husband the great tzaddik to wane,
and remained his widow for 37 years. In 1944 she became ill
and was convinced that she would not survive her illness. She
called me to her bedside and warned me that although I am
known as an outstanding speaker that I should not eulogize
her: "There is nothing to say about me."
In the end she recovered, but half-a-year ago she became
paralyzed on one side of her body. When we spoke she reminded
me of the words of Rav Yisroel Salanter who, when he lost the
use of his hand, said jokingly of himself that, "a thief is
caught by the hand." And indeed this was my mother-in-law
— "and she laughed until her last day."
She passed away at a good old age of 86 leaving children and
grandchildren, bnei Torah and talmidei
chachomim.
