HaRav Avrohom zt"l was born in 5562 (1802) in Pressburg. His
father, R' Yehudah zt"l, was a descendant of the Chavos
Yoir.
Reb Dovid Shlome was born in 5515 (1755) in the city of
Ozhiran where his father, Reb Yerachmiel, was a prominent
talmid chochom.
By the year 5540 (1780) he already taught Torah in
Nodvorna. In his sefer Arvei Nachal, there is a
drosho that he gave in Vizhnov in 5550. He was later
rov in Soroka and is generally known as the rov of that
city.
The Levushei Srod learned under R' Meshulam Feivish of
Zhoboritz and under R' Wolf of Tcharne in Ostroa, whom he
often mentions in his writings.
In 5568 (or perhaps 5569) he left Soroka and traveled to
Eretz Yisroel. There Reb Dovid Shlome settled
unobtrusively in Tzfas, learning in a quiet corner of the
beis knesses and teaching children of Tzfas' poor,
like a simple melamed.
Nonetheless his reputation spread through Tzfas and the
rest of Eretz Yisroel and many sought to learn Torah
with him.
He was the author of many seforim, such as
Levushei Srod on Shulchan Oruch Orach Chaim and
Yoreh Deah, Arvei Nachal Al Hatorah and Droshos,
Sheilos Uteshuvos Neos Desheh and others, all of which
were widely acclaimed throughout the Torah world.
Reb Dovid Shlome began writing his seforim while
still in chutz la'aretz and completed them in
Eretz Yisroel. Many of his chiddushim remained
in manuscript and have been lost to us over the years.
On 22nd Cheshvan 5574 (1814) the Levushei Srod was
niftar. He was buried in a cave in the old cemetery
of Tzfas together with Reb Aryeh Leib, zt"l of
Voltzchisk. After a few years the tzaddik, Reb
Avrohom Dovid of Voritch was also buried in the same
me'arah.
***
His hasmodoh in Torah is impossible to describe, but
an example may give us an insight to its greatness.
On his long journey to the holy land, Reb Dovid Shlome
traveled together with HaRav Binyomin Diskin, father of R'
Yehoshua Leib Diskin, zt"l. Naturally, the two of
them were mefalpel and osek beTorah all the
time. However, since they only had between them one
masechteh of Talmud Bavli on the ship they
divided the gemora into two halves. Each learned half
the masechteh and then they swapped, continuing in
this way throughout the long and arduous journey until they
reached the shores of Eretz Yisroel.
After his first sefer, Levushei Srod, came out, a
certain rov had a number of queries and annotations which
he wrote to him. He went to the Apta Rov for a
haskomoh to his heoros, but the Apta refused to
sign, saying, "The Levushei Srod wrote his sefer in
accordance with his revelations from Eliyahu Hanovi. Go and
check over all your queries and you will see they are not
questions at all."
Despite his intense humility and soft approach to everyone,
when it came to matters pertaining to mitzvos, Reb Dovid
Shlome remained firm and adamant in his opinion. He was
very strict, particularly concerning the issur of
talking during Chazoras Hashatz and Kaddish, in
accordance with the Shulchan Oruch which says one
should scold a person who speaks during prayer as his "sin
is too great to bear."
One of the respected roshei hakehilloh in Tzfas was a
wealthy Jew who came from Europe and very much wanted to
live out his last years in the holy land, living a life of
Torah and chesed, and shaking off completely the
business world. He had therefore left his family behind in
his hometown to continue managing his business while he
himself moved to Tzfas. Every month a messenger came,
bringing him regards from his family and plenty of money
for him to live on comfortably.
Once, the messenger was unavoidably detained. One month
passed and then another, the money in his possession
dwindled, and still there was no sign of the man. The Jew
was duly concerned, not only for his money but even more
for the welfare of his family back home.
A number of weeks passed in growing anxiety, when one day
in the middle of the tefillah the messenger arrived,
coming straight to the shul.
The man's joy knew no bounds. As the shaliach
approached him and delivered a thick wad of notes, he could
not contain himself. Although it was in the middle of
chazoras hashatz he urgently asked the newcomer,
"Tell me how is my family?"
Seeing this, Reb Dovid Shlome immediately motioned for the
prominent yid to leave the shul.
Insulted and embarrassed, the man left the shul as
his shame turned to anger. How dare the rov insult such a
reputable and respected member as he? He then and there
decided that he would no longer support the rabbi and his
talmidim as he had until now, in revenge for his hurt
pride.
However, after a few moments he began to have second
thoughts. "If the Rabbi, who knows that I regularly support
him and his students, risked losing my money without a
moment's hesitation and only had kvod Shomayim in
mind, then surely he deserves my tzedokoh even more."
As soon as davening was over, he presented the Rov
with a large sum of money.
Reb Dovid Shlome at first refused to accept the gift, but
after the man insisted, he told him, "Go and distribute the
money to my pupils who have finished praying so that they
can eat, be sated and have strength to learn Torah."
The Levushei Srod, HaRav Dovid Shlome Eibeshitz, ztvk"l