Rebbe David Tzvi Shlomo Biederman of Lelov was born in the year 5604 (1844) to his father, the holy Rebbe Elazar Mendel of Lelov, of blessed memory. In his childhood, in the year 5611 (1851), he made aliyah to the Holy Land together with his father and his grandfather, the holy Rebbe Moshe of Lelov, of blessed memory. Driven by his aspiration to grow in his Divine service, he set out to wander through Europe, visiting the courts of the Rebbes. When he arrived in Karlin he drew close to the holy Beit Aharon, of blessed memory, who became his principal teacher. Upon returning to Jerusalem, he established his place of prayer in the Beit Midrash of the Karlin chasidim. His prayers were conducted while cleaving to God and were offered with immense inner force and total devotion. He engaged in public affairs and raised large sums with which he built the Batei Varsha (Houses of Warsaw) neighborhood in Jerusalem, yet he himself refused to benefit from these funds, and therefore refrained from living in the neighborhood and even forbade his children from residing there. He departed this world on the 7th of Elul, 5678 (1918), and was interred on the Mount of Olives. Engraved upon his tombstone are his name and the date of his passing alone, in accordance with his explicit instructions.
One of Rebbe Dovid Tzvi Shlomo’s chasidim related the following:
The elder Rebbe Yehudah Leib Deutsch of Stropkov, of blessed memory, who had in his earlier years traveled to the grand Rebbe, the Divrei Chaim of Sanz had from the time of his arrival in Jerusalem cleaved to our master, the holy Rebbe Dovid Tzvi Shlomo, of blessed memory, and bound himself to him with all his soul. On the Saturday night following Rebbe Yehudah Leib’s passing, we sat at the Melaveh Malkah meal and in the midst of the gathering, Rebbe Dovid Tzvi Shlomo related:
Two chasidim of the Lublin dynasty set out on their way to the Rebbe of Lublin, of blessed memory, for Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. Along the way they found themselves without a single coin to their name. They agreed between themselves that one would pose as a rebbe and the other as his attendant and in this manner they would procure some funds to sustain themselves and continue on their journey.
They heard that in the vicinity of where they were traveling there lived a wealthy man who had been childless for many years and had already made the rounds of the great tzaddikim seeking a blessing to have children. The chasid posing as the attendant went in to him and told him that a grand Rebbe had arrived and wished to lodge with him. The wealthy man became irritated and said: "I have come to know all these Rebbes. They only drain one's money and accomplish nothing. I want nothing more to do with them or their entourages!" But the attendant replied: "A Rebbe like this one you have never encountered. He writes amulets and and they work with certainty!"
Since this was genuinely a new claim, the ‘attendant's’ words made an impression, and the wealthy man brought the guests into his home, fed and gave them to drink, provided them with provisions for the road, and placed some coins in their pockets. The ‘Rebbe’ sat down and wrote an amulet, which he gave to the wealthy man wrapped and sealed and off they went to continue their journey to Lublin.
The following year, when they again set out to the Rebbe of Lublin for Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, they were careful to take a different route to ensure they did not pass through that same village, lest the wealthy man recognize them and vent his fury upon them.
To their dismay, when they entered the presence of the Rebbe of Lublin, they saw the same wealthy man there in the Rebbe's court, so they hid their faces in fear. But they were soon astonished to see him approaching the Rebbe, wishing to honor him as sandak at the circumcision of his newborn son. Their spirits revived, and they too approached as if they were family celebrating in the joy of the occasion.
The holy Rebbe of Lublin turned to them and said: "Do you know what happened to this man? An iron partition stood between him and Heaven, and all the prayers that the tzaddikim had prayed on his behalf for children met that partition and could not pass through. You came to him, and without knowing what you were doing, you wrote him an amulet containing four letters: M.K.M.D., the initials of the Ukrainian phrase, “makorava kolda milka daya” meaning, “even an old cow gives milk.” This aroused great laughter in Heaven, until a crack and crevice appeared in that partition and through it all the prayers of the tzaddikim that had accumulated over the years were able to pass. And so he was swiftly blessed with a child."
And now, Rebbe Dovid of Lelov continued, when Rebbe Yehudah Leib’s soul ascended Above, they asked whose chasid he was. He replied that he was my chasid, and there was great laughter: “Now, Dovid has also become a rebbe?!" And so, in the midst of the laughter, he slipped in…
When Rebbe Dovid Tzvi Shlomo finished his words and saw the impression they had made upon those gathered, he called for water for mayim acharonim and led the Grace after Meals. It was later discovered with wonder that just moments before his passing, Rebbe Yehudah Leib had asked his sons to mention him afterward before the Rebbe.
Laughing at Others
A famous teaching of the Ba’al Shem Tov asks: why is it the way of the world that when someone stumbles and falls, those around him burst into laughter?
At first glance this seems like mere instinct and not a particularly refined one at that. Why should anyone laugh at the poor person who has fallen? But the Ba’al Shem Tov teaches otherwise: the spontaneous laughter arises because the person fell on account of harsh judgments that stand against him in the spiritual realm and it is precisely laughter and joy that sweeten them. ,The person who laughs may not know this, and may ask himself, "Why did I laugh?" But this is rooted in human nature to enable the fallen person to rise again: "A tzaddik falls seven times and rises” (Proverbs 24:16).
It is for this reason that the archetypal soul of the sefirah of might (gevurah) is Isaac, whose Hebrew name, Yitzchak, means “he will laugh.” The power of laughter to sweeten harsh judgment touches the very root of judgment and at its root everything is good, and the dissonance between the inherent goodness of every event as it is at its root and the way the event manifests in our reality is itself a source of laughter and joy. When Yitzchak was born, Sarah said: “God has brought me laughter; all who hear will laugh with me” (Genesis 21:6). In light of the Ba’al Shem Tov's teaching, one may interpret that “those who laugh with me” includes even (or particularly) those that laugh at me, for it is they who sweeten the harsh judgments the most. All the harsh judgments of Sarah's life—her barrenness, her hardships, and her nomadic life with Abraham—were sweetened through Isaac’s birth and the laughter that followed.
When the Tzaddik Falls
There is a unique detail in this particular story. If in the ordinary course of things, it is those around the fallen one who laugh and thereby sweeten the judgment upon him, here it is the tzaddik who laughs at himself: he likens himself in an amusing way to a pair of hapless wandering chasidim, and declares that he is in truth a “pretend-tzaddik” and that all the good he accomplishes flows from the fact that his pretensions to being a rebbe and a leader are entirely laughable.
As befits a true tzaddik, the Rebbe of Lelov always feels himself to be a bar nafla—one who has fallen—in the spirit of David, whose name he bears. He senses that he himself is nothing, and that whatever is within him comes entirely from the Almighty and from his holy forebears, just as the two chasidim in the story merely opened the door for the prayers of all the tzaddikim to enter. In this way the tzaddik “causes himself to fall” and delights in laughing at himself; and, through that laughter, he aids his departed chasid.
(Based on a class given on 2 Adar 1, 5774)
