Page 12 - HaMizrachi Chanukah 2021 - USA

1920
The first Mizrachi conference The Mizrachi Teacher Training College is
in the United Kingdom established in Jerusalem; Rav Kook would
is held in Manchester attend several future graduations

The Early Years

Rabbi Pini Dunner

I somehow remained calm, even as it superhuman religious faith was the
t was an ordinary Shabbat after-
noon in the early spring of 1891,
hallmark of his exceptional personality.
became clear that Moshe's life had been
and 21-year-old Moshe Reines snuffed out. Without expressing any
Rabbi Reines came from a background
- son of Rabbi Yitzchak Yaakov emotion, Rabbi Reines told the family
steeped in difficulty and tragedy, and at
Reines - reached for a book on the top to leave Moshe's body in the study until
the same time, enveloped in hope and
shelf of the bookshelf in his father's after Shabbat. They left the room, and
optimism. His father, Rabbi Shlomo
study. Suddenly, the entire bookcase Rabbi Reines closed the door and went
Naftali Reines (1797-1889), was part of
collapsed on top of him without warn- to shul to daven.
a group - followers of the Vilna Gaon
ing, crushing him with its weight.
After Maariv, Rabbi - who moved from Lithuania to Eretz
Reines returned home Yisrael in 1809. The members of this
and made havdallah, still group, led by Rabbi Yisrael of Shklov
calm and composed. (1770-1839), were motivated by a mys-
But moments later, tical conviction that mandated living
Rabbi Reines turned in the Holy Land in anticipation of
pale, his eyes rolled messianic redemption. They settled
back, and he fainted to in Tzfat, where living conditions were
the floor, collapsing to rudimentary, and supporting a family
the ground in a heap was almost impossible.
of unbearable grief. Rabbi Shlomo Naftali was an energetic,
Rabbi Reines' two- enterprising man, and he opened a
stage reaction to his printing press for Hebrew books. For a
son's death made time, his publishing business was quite
such an impression successful. But in 1834, local Arabs
revolted against the Egyptian governor
on his family that
his descendants still of Palestine, and as part of the rebellion,
initiated a vicious pogrom against the
recall it with awe. In
January 2020, at an Jews of Tzfat. During the riots, Rabbi
Shlomo Naftali's printing press was
event inaugurating
destroyed, and he was left destitute.
the gift of Rabbi
At the request of communal leaders, he
Reines's archives
traveled to Russia and Poland to raise
- a collection of
money for the Tzfat community. But
20,000 handwritten
A postcard manuscript pages - to the National while he was in Warsaw, Rabbi Shlomo
featuring Rabbi Naftali heard the terrible news that his
The Reines family desperately tried to Library of Israel in Jerusalem, it was
Reines (center, entire family - his wife and seven chil-
seated) and save his life, but to no avail; Moshe - a the main story of a speech given by his
other members prodigy who had mastered the entire great-granddaughter. Indeed, it is this dren - had been killed in an earthquake
of Mizrachi, in Talmud and was an acknowledged story that encapsulates Rabbi Reines, that devastated Tzfat on January 1, 1837.
Vienna, 1902. expert in Jewish history - was dead. who balanced his utter devotion to G-d
(PHOTO: NATIONAL As a result of this disaster, in which
LIBRARY OF ISRAEL) Despite the shocking tragedy, his father with deep-seated humanity, and whose 1,800 people were killed, the Jewish
12 I HAfv11ZRACHI