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CHASSIDIC

CHALUTZIM:

Rabbi Dudi
Dudkevitz
Rav Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk

and the Aliyah that Changed History

n the historical consciousness of Shem Tov as a child and absorbed about formal attire. They warned Rav
the Jewish people, the Chassidic his teachings. After the passing of Menachem Mendel that the tzaddik
movement is generally viewed as the Maggid, Rav Menachem Mendel would punish those who came to greet
Ia phenomenon of “exilic Judaism.” became the most important Chassidic him in such a manner, but he brushed
Even those who study the Torah of figure in White Russia (Belarus), off their concerns. And indeed, when
the Ba’al Shem Tov, the Maggid of establishing his court in Horodok. Rav Menachem Mendel came to Rav
Mezeritch, and their students, do Stories from that era describe Rav Ya’akov Yosef, he was greeted with
not perceive the connection between Menachem Mendel’s glorious attire, great honor.
the Chassidic revolution and the and his majestic and impressive
renewal of Jewish nationalism in leadership, a style that would later After the meeting, the people ask Rav
the Holy Land. But this perspective is be found in the court of the Rebbes Ya’akov Yosef: “What is the nature of
historically false, as the extraordinary of Ruzhin. this man, who dared to come before
life story of Rav Menachem Mendel of you while smoking a pipe, without a
Vitebsk so clearly demonstrates. One of the stories describes Rav belt, and wearing shoes with silver
Menachem Mendel’s meeting with Rav laces?” Rav Ya’akov Yosef explained
Rav Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk has Ya’akov Yosef of Polonoye, the great with a parable: “A king once possessed
been ill-treated by many of the writers student of the Ba’al Shem Tov and a beautiful gem of enormous value,
of Jewish history. Though generally the author of the Toldot Ya’akov Yosef, and he was concerned that wherever
regarded by the Chassidim as one of the earliest Chassidic sefer. When Rav he would hide the gem, thieves would
the early fathers of the movement, Menachem Mendel was on his journey find it and steal it from him. And so the
referred to in his lifetime as “our Rebbe to Eretz Yisrael, he stayed at an inn in king hid the stone in an outhouse, for
in Eretz Yisrael,” historians have largely the town of Polonoye. After settling in, no thief would ever expect him to hide
ignored his crucial contributions to the he lit his long pipe, removed his belt, a stone of great value in such a lowly
renewal of the relationship between and went to greet the great tzaddik, and filthy place. So too, Rav Menachem
Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael, and the Rav Ya’akov Yosef. When the locals Mendel is lowly in his own eyes and is
resettlement of the Land of Israel. saw that Rav Menachem Mendel was the very embodiment of humility, and
Israeli schools teach their students going to greet the tzaddik in such an he is concerned that his attribute of
about the First Aliyah (1882–1903), the informal way they became frightened, humility will become sullied by klipot
Second Aliyah (1904–1914), and so on, for Rav Ya’akov Yosef was meticulous (impure spiritual forces). And so he
naturally implying that before the
First Aliyah there was nothing. But this
is a historical distortion, for before the
First Aliyah there were several large
and important waves of Aliyah, the
first of which was the Aliyah of Rav
Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk and
about 300 of his students.
Rav Menachem Mendel was born
somewhere between 1730 and 1740.
Considered the senior student of the
Maggid of Mezeritch, he saw the Ba’al
A plaque on a building that was once Rav Menachem Mendel's home
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