AS IT HAPPENED
GREENBERG, IRVING
AS IT HAPPENED In 1848, a dreaded cholera plague broke out in Vilna. The plague spread rapidly, killing many and striking fear in the hearts of others. The sickness was debilitating, causing high...
...He set up a fund raising project in such a way that a wide group of people would contribute and not just a few wealthy people...
...Rabbi Israel stood fast...
...To their surprise, he did not mention the entire issue at all, but spoke on unrelated matters altogether...
...The hospital cost a fortune to rent and although he had no money in hand, he did not hesitate to sign a lease and take responsibility for it...
...On Erev Yom Kippur, when he could wait no longer, Rabbi Israel had posters put up in the synagogues and all over Vilna...
...He thinks he should make a general ruling that all is permitted but he hesitates...
...Or, someone who waited in line for a ruling grew weaker and when he arrived home became sick...
...He explained that the saving of lives is such a great mitzvah that everyone is obligated— no one should be denied the opportunity to take part in it...
...But he is a murderer...
...Rabbi Israel went on to all the other synagogues in the city and persuaded the people not to fast...
...People became too weak to help themselves and thus even more died...
...Rabbi Israel watched with growing anxiety and disappointment as the holidays drew near and none of the Rabbis of Vilna told the public that they should not fast, or that they should not stay for long hours in synagogue...
...Rabbi Israel organized a special group of Yeshiva students—" God fearing and scholars" — to make emergency aid available whenever needed...
...The sickness was debilitating, causing high fevers and great thirsts in the victims...
...Because it was a highly contagious disease, families and survivors feared to take care of the sick...
...The posters caused a sensation...
...He insisted, and the people came forward—many with tears in theireyes— blessed, ate and went home to finish the meal...
...Some Rabbis feared the criticism of their colleagues orof traditionalists if they publicly permitted eating on Yom Kippur...
...He gave permission for many acts of food preparation and work on the Sabbath because lives were at stake (pikuach nefesh or, the saving of a life, a prime commandment for which all other commandments may be abrogated except three: the prohibition of murder, idolatry, and forbidden sexual liaisons...
...Many criticized the posters bitterly...
...he misses sleep...
...In the aftermath of the incident, there was great criticism and resentment in Vilna...
...According to Rabbi Baruch Epstein, he took two other known judges of Vilna with him and said as follows: "In the name of God and by authority of our holy Torah which crowned all her commandments with one fundamental command: 'You shall live by them' (Leviticus 18:5) and'You shall not die by them' (Talmud Yoma 88b) we permit no fasting today...
...Salanter was only 38 years old and without official position...
...He insisted on this, making a special point of it...
...When Rabbi Israel saw that the criticism was unrelenting, he announced that he would give a shiur (study session) in halachah in the Great Synagogue...
...However, this time he revealed the full extent of his genius so his full authority in Torah would be recognized and the matter settled...
...Rabbi Israel once said: In order to be a proper Rabbi, one must be able to fulfill totally the commandment "You shall not be afraid of any man...
...He said kiddush, blessed the wine and drank it...
...The doctors indicated that hungeror fasting, excessive tiredness, crowding and lack of fresh air—all increased the likelihood of catching cholera...
...He feared that others, out of mistaken piety or simple traditionalism, might fast and so endanger their lives...
...Rabbi Israel did not flinch...
...Rabbi Israel feared that some people would be afraid or unable to ask and might be endangered...
...The chief dayan (senior judge) of Vilna, Rabbi Be-zalel, arose and in the name of the high rabbinical court judges of Vilna protested this general permission to eat, in the absence of specific doctor's instructions in each case when a person wanted to eat...
...He traveled from place to place making personal appearances, helping, encouraging, comforting and spurring on the efforts of the volunteers...
...They have not permitted eating publicly as he has...
...He rented a hospital with 1500 beds and made it available for the cholera rescue effort...
...Do we lack Rabbis and judges who know the laws of life saving...
...All these factors were present on Yom Kippur...
...One of the community leaders stood up in violent protest...
...Some Rabbis feared that a general decree excusing people from fasting on Yom Kippur would be a severe and permanent blow to the observance of the holiday...
...Rabbi Israel took out wine and cookies...
...Rabbi Israel Salanter set up a relief committee to organize a medical effort to deal with the cholera...
...He goes to bed content and confident of his future reward...
...The congregation sat stunned, afraid, and could not believe what it saw...
...In a case that might possibly involve life or death, there was no question in his mind that a public and sweeping statement should be made and publicized...
...He especially ordered the volunteers to do all necessary laboras if it were a weekday—i.e., to do it the regular way and not in a changed or unusual manner (doing labor in an unusual manner was sometimes advised when there was hesitation or reluctance to permit work on the Sabbath) and to do it themselves—not through Gentiles...
...The Rabbis refused to make a public declaration to this effect...
...People all over Vilna talked only of Rabbi Israel's intervention...
...Every Friday and Shabbat, he made special visits because he feared the volunteers might hold back on their efforts out of respect for the holiness of Shabbat...
...A large crowd, including the scholars of the city, gathered with great curiosity, expecting some analysis and justification of his ruling...
...The cholera plague lasted through the summer and, as the High Holy Days drew near, showed no sign of relenting...
...He blessed the cookies and ate them too...
...The more work the posek does, the more gratified he feels about his religious state...
...Rabbi Jechiel J. Weinberg later explained: Rabbi Israel was absolutely certain of the Tightness of his decision and felt that to defend it would be to grant the possibility of its being challenged...
...But, in the meantime, someone not even near his home dies of the plague because a general ruling was not made...
...Some did so on the grounds that general permission to eat was improper, some on the grounds that Salanter was not an official Rabbi of Vilna and his intervention was wrong and an affront to the Rabbis...
...The more he does, the more righteous he feels...
...Some say this was because he believed the mitzvah of life saving is the greatest reward in itself...
...It is safer to answer question by question—and does not respect for halachah suggest a more cautious approach...
...Some Rabbis just could not bring themselves to publicly instruct people to eat on the most solemn fast day of the year...
...Deut...
...They instructed the people not to fast on this holy and awesome day, to cut short the piyyutim (special prayers added in great abundance in the traditional liturgy for Yom Kippur), to go for walks in the streets for fresh air, and to help one another with personal aid, with money and with advice...
...Accordingly, on Yom Kippur morning, he walked up onto the bimah of the Great Synagogue of Vilna after the morning prayer service section was completed...
...Of greater concern to him was that many people were not going to listen to him because of the opposition and because of their fear of eating on Yom Kippur...
...He spoke to all the physicians and they agreed not to take fees for the treatments of cholera victims— neither from the poor nor the rich...
...Many considered him too young to make such a decision and to act publicly in defiance of men considerably older and more authoritative...
...31:6) A disciple said: My Rebbe once told me: Imagine a posek (decisor, one who rules on a case of Jewish law) who awakens in the morning and is immediately presented with questions about the cholera epidemic...
...Some feared that they would have a permanent reputation as"the man who permitted eating on Yom Kippur" — the holiest day of the year...
...Imagine further: all daylong people wait on him and he answers questions...
...However, the discourse he gave was, by common consent, deeper and more masterful than any he had hitherto given and amazed the listeners by its brilliance...
...Some say: so that the poor should not feel ashamed that they were objects of charity...
...He skips meals...
...Some Rabbis objected in principle to a general permission on health grounds and insisted that each case should be judged separately in response to a specific rabbinic question...
...He was disturbed at the criticism...
Vol. 1 • September 1975 • No. 3
