Itche Der Masmid
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Yitzchok Horowitz, more commonly known as Reb Itche der Masmid, was a famous Orthodox Jewish Rabbi in pre-war Europe. Specifically, he served as a Mashpia, Hasidic mentor. He was born to Shlomo Menachem Mendel and Elka Horowitz in the city of Bereznehuvate, in the Kherson Governorate.[1] Jewish agricultural settlement in the Kherson area had been encouraged by the second Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Dovber Shneuri.
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[edit] Refinement of character
Reb Itche earned the appellation "Masmid" (which refers to a highly assiduous Torah scholar) in his early youth, when he would study till very late at night.[2] He continued this assiduity throughout his life. He struggled to refine himself in a superhuman way that aroused wonder in all who saw him.[3]
It was said that he attained the level described in the Tanya of Beinoni, one whose every thought, speech, and action is consistent with the Code of Jewish Law.[4]
It was his custom to pray for many hours, according to the Chabad tradition of prayer. However, he surpassed his colleagues by praying until five in the afternoon! [5]
[edit] Public role
He served as an emissary (shaliach) of the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Sholom Dov Ber Schneersohn (the Rebbe Rashab), and of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn (the Rebbe Rayatz). He traveled throughout Europe and encourage the Hasidim and other Jews he met to increase in their observance of Judaism and the Hasidic lifestyle.[6]
[edit] Communist persecution
In 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution occurred in Russia; within a short time, virtually any kind of formal Jewish education was outlawed by the new Communist regime. Anyone committing this "crime" was in danger of imprisonment and execution, and many young rabbis suffered this fate. Reb Itche continued his work to strengthen Jewish observance despite this danger, and survived this period.
[edit] Wider Influence
His influence reached outside the ranks of Chabad hasidism as well, most notably to Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler of the Mussar movement, leading Dessler to include many ideas from Hasidic philosophy in his writings. [7]
[edit] Demise
He was slain by the Nazis on 10 Kislev, 5702 (30 November, 1941). They brought him and numerous other Jews into a synagogue, poured gasoline on it, and set it ablaze, burning everyone alive.[8]
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Yiras Hashem Otzaro, Yisroel Alfenbein, Israel, 2005, p. 20.
- ^ ibid., p. 23.
- ^ ibid., p. 28
- ^ ibid., p. 30
- ^ ibid., p. 61
- ^ ibid., p. 95
- ^ ibid., pp. 247-248
- ^ ibid., p. 279
