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Moshe of Pozna

Rabbi Moshe of Pozna was the head of the Jewish community (kahal) of Pozna (Poznań), a descendant of the Maharal of Prague, and the great-grandfather of the Alter Rebbe.

Life edit

Rabbi Moshe was born in 5427 (1667)[1] to his father Rabbi Yehuda Leib,[2] a great-great-grandson of the Maharal of Prague, and to his mother Marat Sarah, daughter of Rabbi Chaim of Pozna. He resided in the city of Pozna, where he was a man of wealth, dealing in antiques. At the age of twenty-five, in the year 5452 (1692), he was appointed head of the Pozna community.

He married Sarah, daughter of Rabbi Schneur Zalman, who was descended from Rabbi Yitzchak Katz, son-in-law of the Maharal.[3]

He merited to attend the bar mitzvah of his great-great-grandson, the Alter Rebbe, which took place in Elul of 5518 (1758),[4] when Rabbi Moshe was ninety-one years old.

Rabbi Moshe had sons and daughters. Among his sons mentioned by name are:

  • Rabbi Schneur Zalman Pozner, grandfather of the Alter Rebbe.
  • Marat Freida, wife of Rabbi Kadish, who together took in Rabbi Baruch and his sister Devorah Leah after the death of their parents.
  • Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Mordechai, who wandered to Orsha in the Mogilev region.
  • An additional son is mentioned in Sefer HaZikronos without a name, who wandered to Minsk together with his father Rabbi Moshe.[5]

Head of the Community edit

At the age of twenty-five, Rabbi Moshe was appointed to the position of communal head in Pozna. In that role he stood firm, time and again, against unusual and threatening decrees against the Jewish community, doing so with courage, and he was beloved by the city's inhabitants.

In the year 5480 (1720), he left Pozna following two years of terrible decrees and persecution at the hands of the regional archbishop, together with many members of the community. After a period of time he settled with his family in the city of Minsk, bringing with him a great treasury of rare books and manuscripts.

His Visit to the Vatican edit

In the course of his antiquities trade, Rabbi Moshe traveled to Rome and Italy, and entered the Vatican in order to examine the ancient books and rare manuscripts held there. He struck up extensive conversations with the librarian, who took a liking to him and spoke of him to senior members of the clergy — who then demanded that he engage in a religious disputation on Judaism and Christianity.

The First Disputation edit

The first disputation was held at Rabbi Moshe's insistence in a hall cleared of all statues and images; the senior clergy removed the crosses from their garments as well, in keeping with his demand for full equality. In the event, he found himself facing thirty cardinals, twelve of whom were noted men of science. A senior cardinal opened the debate, and when Rabbi Moshe's turn came to speak, he argued that the conditions were inherently unequal — one man against thirty — and that Judaism, as the elder faith upon which Christianity itself is built, must be accorded precedence. The disputation was accordingly closed and postponed to a later date.[6]

The Second Disputation edit

Some two weeks after the first disputation, a second was held. It had been planned to take place in the hall of statues, but at Rabbi Moshe's insistence it was moved to one of the library halls. This time he faced three cardinals, and was granted the right to speak first. Here too he raised the issue of inequality — the debate was set for a Friday, when his time was pressed, and he stood alone against three — but in the event he delivered a three-hour address on the greatness and truth of Judaism and its superiority over Christianity. This disputation concluded in Rabbi Moshe's decisive victory.

Bringing Back Lost Souls edit

At his first address, Rabbi Moshe had noticed a man who seemed to him to be Jewish. After making inquiries he met with him, and the man revealed that ever since the first disputation he had desired to return to his people — Rabbi Moshe's arguments had dismantled every claim he had held. His name was Gedaliah Moshe Gordon, a man of brilliant intellect who had come from Poland to the Vatican to study in several disciplines. After a period during which the clergy had attempted to ensnare him in Christianity, he had gradually drifted until he had nearly ceased observing the mitzvos altogether. Through Rabbi Moshe's influence he returned fully.

Rabbi Moshe discovered that there were several dozen Jews in the Vatican on the verge of spiritual ruin. Through the return of Gedaliah Moshe Gordon — who was among their leading figures — many others followed, including some who had not observed mitzvos even in their own homes.[7]

Fighting the Spread of Missionary Literature edit

After his period at the Vatican and his victory in the disputations, Rabbi Moshe grew concerned about a deterioration in relations with the Christian authorities and about renewed efforts to produce literature promoting Christianity — which indeed came to pass. He therefore established, together with Professor Gedaliah Moshe Gordon,[8] a campaign to publish works affirming the truth and greatness of Judaism and refuting the claims of Christianity.

After relocating to Minsk, he traveled frequently to visit his colleague, who had by then moved to London and subsequently to Paris, from where he directed the campaign and the printing of the publications.

Lineage edit

The Frierdiker Rebbe (the Previous Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn) writes[9] that the Alter Rebbe was the son of Rabbi Yisrael Baruch Pozner, son of Rabbi Schneur Zalman Pozner,[10] son of Rabbi Moshe of Pozna. Rabbi Moshe's descent from the Maharal of Prague is traced in a direct father-to-son line: he was the son of Rabbi Yehuda Leib, son of Rabbi Shmuel Charif, son of Rabbi Betzalel Charif, the only son of the Maharal.

The work Beis Rebbi[11] records a different line of descent from the Maharal — not father-to-son throughout: Rabbi Moshe was said to be the son of Rabbi Yehuda of Kavali,[12] who was the son of Rabbi Moshe, son of Rabbi Tzvi Hirsh, son of the Gaon Rabbi Yosef Yaski,[13] who was a son-in-law of the Maharal of Prague. In recent years, however, researchers have published studies arguing that a lineage to the Maharal through Rabbi Yehuda of Kavali cannot be established.[14]

Moshe Chalfan edit

There was a man named Rabbi Moshe Chalfan, whose stamp was found on many books in the possession of the Frierdiker Rebbe. Some suggested that this was the same Rabbi Moshe of Pozna, who used the name Moshe Chalfan. In 5704 (1944), the Frierdiker Rebbe asked Rabbi Michoel Vilensky — son of Rabbi Yitzchak Chaim Dov Vilensky, who served as librarian — whether he knew anything about this figure and whether books bearing his stamp were held in the library.[15] It is worth noting that in Sefer HaZikronos,[16] published some years later, the name Moshe Chalfan does not appear — evidently in light of Rabbi Michoel's response to the Frierdiker Rebbe.[17]

Further Reading edit

Notes edit

  1. ↑ Sefer HaZikronos, chapter 91.
  2. ↑ Who was the son of Rabbi Shmuel, son of Rabbi Betzalel Charif, son of the Maharal of Prague.
  3. ↑ It must be said that one of them bore an additional name, since it is forbidden for a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law to share the same name, per the will of Rabbeinu Yehuda HaChassid. See Hearos U'Biurim (32).
  4. ↑ Sefer HaSichos — Summer 5700, p. 58.
  5. ↑ Sefer HaZikronos, chapter 10.
  6. ↑ Present at this bold address was a Jew named Gedaliah Moshe Gordon, who, as will be recounted below, was profoundly affected by what he heard.
  7. ↑ Sefer HaZikronos, chapters 109–113.
  8. ↑ Whom he had brought back to full observance during his stay there.
  9. ↑ Sefer HaZikronos and HaYom Yom, at the opening of the genealogical chain.
  10. ↑ See the introduction to the Igros Kodesh of the Alter Rebbe.
  11. ↑ Chapter 1.
  12. ↑ Author of Kol Yehuda on Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim.
  13. ↑ Av beis din of the Lublin community; some say av beis din of Lvov.
  14. ↑ For a full examination of the Alter Rebbe's genealogical chain, see Toldos Chabad B'Russia HaTzaris, chapter "Tzur Machtzavso U'Mishpachto", as well as the note by Rabbi Shlomo Englard in Kovetz Ohr Yisrael, issue 33, p. 128ff and issue 34, p. 99ff.
  15. ↑ See Igros Kodesh (Frierdiker Rebbe), vol. 8, letter 2474.
  16. ↑ Part 2, chapter 130.
  17. ↑ Marginal note to letter 2474 of the Frierdiker Rebbe.
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