Rabbi Aharon of Streshla

Rabbi Aharon of Streshla
Aharon Halevi Horowitz of Streshla

Birth	1766 Tkc"o Assaba
demise	1828 (age 62 approximately) twenty-two Tishrei Tkf"t Strslh
Burial place	Streshla
Gentlemen	Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Ladi
His essays	Gates of work, work of the Levite, secret of saints
father	Rabbi Moshe Halevi Horowitz
offspring	Rabbi Michael David, Rabbi Chaim Raphael
Rebbe Rabbi Aharon of Strashla 1933 - 1809

Rabbi Aharon HoLevi Horovitz MiStrashela (Staroszele) (  1766 - twenty-two Tishrei , 1828 ) was a student of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi , and one deputy. Wrote a commentary to Tanya 

Table of Contents

• 1 Biography
• 2 from his sleep
• 3 books
• 4 his descendants
• 5 For further reading
• 6 External links
• 7 Footnotes

Biography [ edit source | Edit ]

Born to R. Moshe HoLevi Horovitz, in Asba, in the Vitebsk region . His family is attributed to Rabbi Yeshayohu HoLevi Horovitz (the Shelah HoKodosh)[1]. He was a member of the household and a definite disciple of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, and served as a guide for students . When his rabbi was imprisoned, he acted to release him and collected 60,000 rubles in exchange for his release. He would repeat Chassidus together with his own commentaries, which Rabbi Yehudoh Leib of Janowitz (brother of Rabbi Shneur Zalman and author of the book "She'eris Yehuda") did not like, as he was very precise in his brother's language and caused friction between them.[2], At one point his rabbi ordered him to leave Liadi and did not allow him to return for about three years[3], During this period he lived in the town of Orsha . Part of the method of Rabbi Dover Shneori, son of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, in understanding the "Book of the Tanya". Following this after the death of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi he established his own courtyard . His melodies appear as part of Chabad melodies . During his tenure as Rebbe he wrote annotations in the teachings of Hasidism, which are characterized by a simple and clear style, despite their preoccupation mainly with abstract issues: belief in the oneness of God , love and reverence for God . In 1825 he was banned due to gossip with Rabbi Dover Shneuri. He died in  1828 .

After his death, his son Rabbi Chaim Raphael took his place. After the death of his son, some of his followers returned to Chabad-Lubavitch, some turned to Rabbi Yisrael Dov Ber of Vilednik, a large group delved into his writings without a rabbi and guide and the rest dispersed to the Hasidim of the area.

From his teaching [ edit source | Edit ]

Rabbi Aharon thought[4] That the words of the Torah recited by the next Rebbe do not have to be close and subject to the words of the old Rebbe but are only founded on them by adding annotations and innovations that deviate from the rules and issues discussed in the previous Rebbe's teaching, while Rabbi Dover believed that chassidic sermons must be kept within the framework of The first Rebbe.

Rabbi Aharon also believed that the center of a person's life is not the Rebbe but the Torah he passes on to his disciples. Therefore it is not necessary to adhere to the rabbi's way of life but to study his Torah, while Rabbi Dover considered the Rebbe to be the center of the Hasid's life. The Tzaddik saw it as a "revelation" of the Tzaddik.

Another issue in which his part is the issue of admiration, in the opinion of Rabbi Aharon an admiration of divine interest should be expressed outwardly in prayer in many voices and movements. On the other hand, Rabbi Dover in the Pamphlet of Admiration believed that admiration should be "divine admiration" meaning: that admiration should be only in the soul inward and should not show outward and prayer should be quiet and without movements, Rabbi Aharon called "admiration of flesh life" meaning that admiration is external Only and does nothing in man himself.

Two of his melodies appear in the Chabad Nigunim book and from there to the Heichal Hanegina project[5], Another melody of his is performed by Rov Yo'ir of Kaliv[6].

His books [ edit source | Edit ]

• The gates of uniqueness and faith[7], Note on the part of the "Gate of Unification and faith" in Tanya , C  1820 .
• Book of work rates[8], Called the work of the benoni  (part B of the Gates of Oneness and Faith) - an annotation on the compilation of sayings and the letter of repentance in the Book of the Tanya , Shklov, 1741 .
• Passover Haggodah with commentary on the secret of saints[9], By Baal HaTanya and Rabbi Aharon, Königsberg (possibly printed in Warsaw ), 1866 .
• Sefer Avodas HoLevi[10], Lvov , 1862 - 1866 .
• The Book of the Gates of the Dangling Compilation and Annotation on the Book of the Gates of Unity and Faith by Rabbi Aharon HoLevi: Including a short chapter and keys to the Book of the Gates of Unity and Faith: 2009

His books were not printed beyond or near their first editions, and were rare, but since the 1970s , they have been printed in many editions.[11], And widely distributed, by Rov Avrohom Moishe Krois (related to Rov Yoelish Krois, neighbor of Rov Yisroel Mayer Hirsch), a follower of Toldos Aharon. In addition, the Chabad Library in New York has many manuscripts of his unpublished teachings, articles and letters.

The relationship between his teachings and the teachings of his rabbi, Baal HaTanya, and that of his son, Rabbi Dover, employed many scholars and thinkers, inside and outside Hasidism.   .

concealmentThe period of Rabbi Aharon MiStrashela's life on the timeline

 

Dr. Vittorio Sacerdoti

 Dr. Vittorio Sacerdoti worked in a small hospital on an island in the River Tiber. He lived in the Jewish ghetto during the war and was terrified when the Nazis arrived and started to haul away his fellow Jews. He came up with a fake disease which he named “K Syndrome” - named after the German commander, Kesselring. He admitted as many Jews to his hospital as he could and diagnosed them with “K Syndrome.”

“At the moment when we had to say what disease they suffered? It was Syndrome K, meaning ‘I am admitting a Jew,’ as if he or she were ill, but they were all healthy” — Dr Ossicini

Giovanni Borromeo

The doctors instructed “patients” to cough very loudly and told Nazis that the disease was extremely dangerous, disfiguring and very contagious. Soldiers were so alarmed by the list of symptoms and incessant coughing that they left without inspecting the patients.

Edit:

A small correction, the man in the pic above is Giovanni Borromeo. Both Sacerdoti and Borromeo came up with a plan to diagnose the refugees with a fictitious disease. And the name Syndrome K came from Dr. Adriano Ossicini, an anti-Fascist physician working at the hospital.

He says to turn off your brain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gakHcN1161w&feature=youtu.be

He says to turn off your brain. "Let go of your mind." The act of proving is problematic to him. Is that Judaism, to be anti-intellectual? In a religion where study is the highest act - so says the Baal HaTanya himself - should you turn off your brain to reorient your entire Judaism, to build it around a man like you would God, to have faith in a man like you would God? Oh but he's not a man, they say, he's a general neshama. In other words, God. Just like JC is to the Christians. And like the Christians it's more important to them that you believe in this man than you believe in God Himself. 

And if the Rogatchover used the term Nasi that doesn't mean Nasi Hdor. He's the Nasi of Lubavitch.

And what kind of source would that be anyway? Does the Talmud use the term? Does the Shulchan Aruch reference the need to believe in a Nasi Hador? What they are not interested in the Talmud? That's how it works in Lubavitch today. They don't like the Talmud. And that's why Chabad today is viewed by many as not being part of Torah Judaism. It's a new religion that is built on imaginative readings of the Zohar, independent of the Talmud, independent of the Mesorah. I don't even want to call it Lubavitch. It's not any kind of Lubavitch. 

I have watched stump the rabbi before. These are the types of guys who ruined Lubavitch. They make it up as they go. They are unscholarly but pretend to sound like scholars. They use crazy slippery slope arguments that sound superficially like logic but are really just manipulations of the weak minded. They are brimming with confidence but it's based on nothing but assertions. They are milking the Chabad Chassidis that people like my great-great father helped to carry. 

You are way too smart a guy to buy into this demagoguery. It's like New Age religion. It's so lame.

Suddenly, I'm feeling appreciation for Rav Shach and Dr. Berger.

teaching a beginner

"One can't begin by teaching a beginner 613 laws or encouraging him to commit to several new practices all at once. Rather encourage him to take on a single good deed.  Ensure that he knows this is one of many good deeds about which he will learn at a later stage. Right now, however, focus on this one good deed. And then we have God's promise that when he will do that deed, it will have tremendous success. Rabbi Saadya Gaon taught, repeated by the Baal Shem Tov, quoted many times in Chasidic teachings, "When you grasp a part of the essence, or a small amount of it, you grasp the entire thing." By encouraging a Jew to observe one of the 613 commandments, it is in fact "a part of the essence." So ultimately it influences that Jew, such that he becomes connected with the essence. Or as the Mishnah puts it, one mitzvah leads to another and the Jew continues to increase in the light of Torah and mitzvos. Moreover, ultimately, this Jew himself teaches others, bringing other Jews to Judaism. He "expels nations" and implants the Jewish vine after banishing non-Jewishness from his own portion of the world. And when many Jews join together, each one transforms the materialism of his own portion of the world and "You implant it." This becomes God's plant. His handiwork in which He takes pride." We go to greet the true and complete redemption when all mankind "will serve God with one purpose." the entire world will be affected to serve God by performing their commandments. And the Jewish people radiate to the nations an eternal light through holding the light of Torah and the candle of mitzvos."

7th Lubavitcher Rebbe, JEM, New World, Old Song, 840

Moshiach

Before the passing of the Rebbe, I included myself among those who believe that the Rebbe was worthy of being Moshiach. And I strongly believe that had we, particularly the Orthodox community, been united, we would have merited to see the complete Redemption. Insofar as the belief . . . that the Rebbe can still be Moshiach, in light of the Gemara in Sanhedrin, the Zohar, Abarbanel, Kisvei Arizal, S’dei Chemed, and other sources, it cannot be dismissed.

R' Aaron Soloveichik

The Rebbe, the Messiah, and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference by David Berger, 2001, published by the Littman Library of Jewish Civilization of Portland. Page 70.

asked about mundane matters

In the present letter the Alter Rebbe bemoans the fact that his chassidim trouble him by seeking advice on physical matters, such as their livelihoods. Such advice, he argues, is within the province of prophets, not of Torah scholars. In conclusion he explains how one should accept physical suffering in such a way that it enhances his love and fear of G‑d.

The opening and closing passages of the original letter, which were not reproduced in Tanya,1 throw considerable light on the middle passage, which appears below.

At the beginning of the original letter, the Alter Rebbe defines set times during which he will henceforth receive people for private audience — yechidut. He then protests in strong terms that the many requests for advice on mundane affairs interfere with other areas of his Torah activity. As our Sages ask,2 “Is it conceivable that Moses spent the whole day judging? When would he then find time to study Torah?”

This leads on to the portion of the letter that appears here in Tanya. In the original letter, the Alter Rebbe then concludes by declaring that the appointed times for visits and private audiences must be adhered to. Moreover, he “penalizes” those who will not heed his decree, going so far as to threaten to leave the country if he is not heeded.

As we all know, however, chassidim in every generation have in fact asked their Rebbe for advice in mundane matters and, moreover, each of the Rebbeim has in fact obliged. How is this possible? Elder chassidim of earlier generations used to explain that the Alter Rebbe himself sanctions this conduct — in the letter that he wrote “close to the time of his passing,”3 regarding the value of “fraternity and counsel from afar with regard to all family matters....”

אהוביי אחיי ורעיי

My beloved, my brethren and friends:

מאהבה מסותרת, תוכחת מגולה

Out of [my] hidden love [for you, springs] an overt rebuke.4

לכו נא ונוכחה

“Come now and let us debate”;5

זכרו ימות עולם, בינו שנות דור ודור

remember the days of old, consider the years of every generation.6

ההיתה כזאת מימות עולם, ואיה איפוא מצאתם מנהג זה, באחד מכל ספרי חכמי ישראל הראשונים והאחרונים

Has such a thing ever happened in days past? Where indeed have you found such a custom in any of the books of the early or latter sages of Israel,

להיות מנהג ותיקון לשאול בעצה בגשמיות, כדת מה לעשות בעניני העולם הגשמי

that it should be the custom and established norm to ask for advice in mundane matters, as to what one ought to do in matters of the physical world?

אף לגדולי חכמי ישראל הראשונים, כתנאים ואמוראים, אשר כל רז לא אנס להו, ונהירין להון שבילין דרקיע

[Such questions were not asked] even of the greatest of the former sages of Israel, such as the tannaim and amoraim, the authors of the Mishnah and the Gemara,7 “from whom no secret was hidden,” and8 “for whom all the paths of heaven were clearly illuminated,”

כי אם לנביאים ממש אשר היו לפנים בישראל, כשמואל הרואה, אשר הלך אליו שאול לדרוש ה׳, על דבר האתונות שנאבדו לאביו

but only of actual prophets who used to live among the Jewish people, such as Samuel the Seer to whom Saul went to inquire of G‑d through him about the donkeys that his father had lost.

Why, indeed, were sages of stature such as the tannaim and amoraim not asked about mundane matters?

כי באמת כל עניני אדם, לבד מדברי תורה ויראת שמים, אינם מושגים רק בנבואה

For in fact all matters pertaining to man, except for words of Torah and the fear of heaven, are apprehended only by prophecy.

ולא לחכמים לחם

[As the verse states,9] “there is no bread unto the wise,”

כמאמר רז״ל: הכל בידי שמים, חוץ מיראת שמים

and as our Sages, of blessed memory, said,10 “Everything is in the hands of heaven except for the fear of heaven.”

ושבעה דברים מכוסים כו׳: אין אדם יודע במה משתכר, ומלכות בית דוד מתי תחזור כו׳

Likewise,11 “Seven things are hidden...: no man knows how he will earn his living, nor when the Kingdom of David will be restored...,” i.e., when Mashiach will come.

הנה הושוו זה לזה

Note that these [two questions] are likened to one another. Just as no one knows exactly when Mashiach will come, so, too, no one knows by what means he in fact will obtain his sustenance.

ומה שכתוב בישעיה: יועץ וחכם חרשים

As for the phrase in Isaiah,12 “A counselor and a man whose wisdom silences all,” suggesting that Torah wisdom qualifies one to advise in other fields as well, —

וכן מה שאמרו רז״ל: ונהנין ממנו עצה ותושיה

and also, as for the statement of our Sages,13 of blessed memory, regarding one who studies Torah lishmah, “for its own sake,” that “people derive from him the benefit of etzah (counsel) and tushiyah (wisdom),” —

היינו בדברי תורה, הנקרא תושיה

these teachings refer specifically to [counsel in] matters of the Torah, which is called14 tushiyah (assistance).

כמאמר רז״ל: יועץ, זה שיודע לעבר שנים ולקבוע חדשים

Thus the Sages, of blessed memory, said: A counselor is one who knows how to intercalate years, making certain years leap years by interpolating an additional month of Adar, and how to determine the months, establishing what day is Rosh Chodesh, the first day of the lunar month,

שסוד העיבור קרוי עצה וסוד בלשון התורה, כדאיתא בסנהדרין דף פ״ז, עיין שם בפירוש רש״י

for in Torah terminology the principle of intercalation is called “counsel” and “a secret,” as stated in Tractate Sanhedrin, p. 87; see the commentary of Rashi there, which states explicitly that the terms “counselor” and “advice” are related to the principle of intercalation.

* * *

FOOTNOTES
1.	They appear in full in Igrot Kodesh (Letters) of the Alter Rebbe (Kehot, N.Y., 5740), sec. 24.
2.	Shabbat 10a.
3.	Igrot Kodesh (op. cit.), sec. 65.
4.	Cf. Mishlei 27:5.
5.	Yeshayahu 1:18.
6.	Cf. Devarim 32:7.
7.	Cf. Chullin 59a.
8.	See Berachot 58b.
9.	Kohelet 9:11.
10.	Berachot 33b.
11.	Pesachim 54b.
12.	3:3.
13.	Avot, beginning of ch. 6.
14.	Sanhedrin 26b, et al.

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By Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812), founder of Chabad Chassidism (Free Translation)