Rav Tzadok Hakohen of Lublin

Lessons from Rav Tzadok Hakohen Rabinowitz of Lublin (1823-1900) in honor of his 124th yaartzeit which is on Tes Elul (next Wednesday night).

Already as a young boy, Rav Tzadok was an incredible masmid, showing mindblowing dedication to Torah study. He would often stay up all night learning, and completed and knew the entire Shas by age 8. Some of the greatest rabbis of his generation used to travel to visit the young boy in order to discuss Torah topics with him. By age 12 he was writing complex responsa and wrote many of his seforim in his teenage years. He wrote 26 seforim of various lengths on a huge range of topics. Some of the more well known ones include Tzidkas Hatzadik, Resisei Layla, and Pri Tzaddik (which was compiled by his students). His Torah is his legacy, as he did not leave behind children. 

• Avoiding Honor

For decades, Rav Tzadok avoided a leadership position, feeling he wasn’t worthy of it. He davened that his Rebbi, Rav Yehuda Leib Eiger, would live a long life, sensing that when he would pass away, Rav Tzadok would be forced to assume his leadership position, which is precisely what happened.  

• Say Very Little and Do Very Much

Rav Tzadok was extremely focused on learning Torah and serving Hashem and did not speak unnecessarily. Even when he assumed a formal leadership position, for nearly a full year his chassidim would gather around his table and he wouldn’t say a single word! Rav Tzadok was born to a family of strong misnagdim, and overcame strong opposition to joining the followers of the Baal Shem Tov. From the time he became a chassid, he decreed on himself to avoid speaking unnecessarily and even stopped talking in learning and teaching to a large degree. Due to this, his legacy is etched primarily through the seforim he wrote, more than in his interactions with other people, which were very limited for many decades.

• Holy Eating

For many years, Rav Tzadok only ate one proper meal a day, which he made sure was the celebration of a siyum, (some say he made a siyum himself by completing a tractate of gemara, every single day!) following in the way of great tzaddikim who would only eat a meal if it was a seudas mitzvah. At some point his rebbe, the great Izhbitzer Rebbe, told him he needed to eat more to maintain his health. After this, he would eat 2 meals a day which were both a seudas mitzvah – one meal would be a mitzvah because there was a siyum, and the other would be a seudas mitzvah because he was fulfilling the mitzvah of listening to the chochamim by listening to his rebbe’s instructions to eat more!

• You Fall Down You Get Back Up

When Rav Tzadok was older and more frail, he once fell down. His chassidim rushed to help him up and encouraged him to go lay down and rest a bit. Rav Tzadok’s reply was: “Since I became bar mitzvah I never went back to rest after I got up!”

• Minimum Viable Hishtadlus

After Rav Tzadok’s rebbetzin died, he allowed one of his chassidim to run the used clothing store she owned to support him, on condition that the moment he makes enough money to sustain him for that day, he must immediately close the store for the remainder of the day!