The Maggid of Kozhnitz
Rabbi Yisrael Hopsztajn of Kozhnitz (1737–14 Tishrei 5575 / 1814) was the founder of the Kozhnitz Chassidic dynasty and a disciple of both the Maggid of Mezeritch and Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk. He is widely known as the Maggid of Kozhnitz (in Yiddish: der Kozhnitzer Maggid).
Life
The story of his birth begins with his parents. A disciple of the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Chassidus, Rabbi Yisrael's father was a poor bookbinder named Rabbi Shabbsai. One Friday, he and his wife discovered they had no money to buy food for Shabbos. Rabbi Shabbsai walked to the beis midrash (house of study) in low spirits, while his wife stayed behind to at least clean the house — and in doing so, discovered a gold button. With it she purchased an abundant Shabbos meal. When her husband returned and saw the miracle, he was seized with overwhelming joy, and the two of them broke into jubilant dancing in honor of the Almighty.
Word of this simple, wholehearted joy reached the heavens. The entire celestial retinue came to witness a Jew rejoicing before G‑d with such sincerity and purity — and this was what caused the Baal Shem Tov, sitting at his own Shabbos table surrounded by his disciples, to burst into laughter three times without explanation.
When his disciples asked what had happened, the Baal Shem Tov traveled with them after Shabbos to Apta, where they found the couple. He blessed them that they would be granted a son and that he would be named Yisrael — after himself. A year later, the Maggid of Kozhnitz was born.
Under His Holy Masters
In his youth, Rabbi Yisrael studied in the yeshiva of Rabbi Shmuel Shmelke of Nikolsburg, who brought him to the Maggid of Mezeritch. The Maggid entrusted him with the task of proofreading the siddur (prayerbook) arranged according to the mystical rite of the Arizal — a project that would later serve the Alter Rebbe (Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of Chabad) in composing his own version of that siddur.[1]
After the passing of the Maggid of Mezeritch, Rabbi Yisrael accepted the leadership of Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk. Before Rabbi Elimelech's own passing, he bequeathed to his disciple the power of the heart — and this expressed itself in the extraordinary fire with which the Maggid would pray, even through years of serious illness.
Torah Greatness, Divine Service, and Holiness
Rabbi Yisrael was born in his parents' old age and remained physically frail throughout his life. In his later years he was often confined to bed for much of the day due to weakness. Yet the moment he rose for davening (prayer), he transformed — praying aloud with the energy and fervor of a young man.
He was celebrated for his vast Torah scholarship in both the revealed dimensions of Jewish law and the mystical tradition of Kabbalah. Before even arriving at the Maggid of Mezeritch, he had mastered eight hundred works of Kabbalistic literature. In Talmudic learning he was considered a towering authority, as attested by Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin — one of the greatest rabbinic figures of his generation — who reported that in the course of their exchanges he found the Maggid to know the entire Babylonian Talmud word for word, including the language of the Tosafos.
He was also renowned as a miracle worker and wonder-maker, operating openly beyond the bounds of nature, with a widely acknowledged ruach hakodesh (Divine inspiration) of a very high order. He was known as a master of Kabbalah who could extract dybbukim (dislocated souls that attach to the living) and rectify wayward souls.
He was scrupulous that his Torah insights be entirely sound. On one occasion, the Yid HaKadosh (Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak of Pshischa) challenged one of the Maggid's novel Torah teachings. Seeing that the Maggid was somewhat shaken, the Yid exerted himself to support and uphold the Maggid's position. The Maggid then said that the Yid had been fortunate — for all of the Maggid's own insights were pure truth, without so much as a single point that was not fully true, and one who overturns absolute truth is left only with the letters of the word emes (truth) that remain when the alef is removed: the word mes — death. And that is a danger for whoever challenges them.
During the Napoleonic Wars
During Napoleon's campaign against the Russian Tsar, the Maggid of Kozhnitz held the same view as the Alter Rebbe: it was preferable that Napoleon be defeated.[2] His reasoning was that Napoleon's program — for all its apparent liberalism — was designed to dissolve Jewish distinctiveness through democratic assimilation. The same position was held by Rabbi Naftali of Ropshitz, in contrast to the view of Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Rimanov and many other Rebbes of Poland and Volhynia.
On the Alter Rebbe and the Tanya
According to Chassidic tradition, it was the Maggid of Kozhnitz who greeted the Alter Rebbe when he first arrived to study by the Maggid of Mezeritch.
The Maggid held the Alter Rebbe's Tanya — the foundational text of Chabad Chassidus — in the highest regard. He would study the Tanya while wearing Rabbeinu Tam tefillin (a second pair worn after the standard pair, in accordance with a Kabbalistic custom), a mark of reverence he reserved for the most sacred texts. When Rabbi Asher of Stolin observed this practice and expressed surprise, the Maggid replied: "This book is Torah from the Garden of Eden, and its author could recite Torah in the presence of Moshiach himself!"[3]
He also wrote a letter publicly defending the Alter Rebbe's approach and gave his haskama (rabbinic approbation) to the book Ohr HaGanuz L'Tzaddikim, a work written to illuminate the teachings of the Tanya.
He carved the wooden atzei chaim (the poles around which a Torah scroll is wound) for the Rebbe's Torah scroll.
Further Reading
Nesi'ei Chabad U'Vnei Doram, p. 27.
Notes
- ↑ Heard from the dayan Levi Yitzchak Raskin, author of Siddur Rabbeinu HaZaken im Tziyunim Mekorot V'He'aros.
- ↑ This was his position following the famous episode of the Alter Rebbe sounding the shofar on Rosh Hashanah 5573 (1812).
- ↑ Rabbi Shimon of Zelichov, Naharei Esh, p. 232.