Rabbi Dovid Deitsch zt"l
Rabbi of Yemnitz, Frauenkirchen, Navamesta
Author: Ohel Dovid
22 Sivan 5591 (1831)
Rabbi Dovid Deitsch once came to Mattersdorf and visited the Yeshiva of the Chassam Sofer. It was late at night and he didn’t want to wake anyone up. So he went to the Beis Hamedrash. None of the students knew who the esteemed guest was and no one took much notice. Without much choice, Reb Dovid took off his coat, put it on the floor and went to sleep on the floor.
Early morning, when the Chassam Sofer walked in to the Beis Hamedrash and saw his friend and Chavrusa Reb Dovid on the floor, he cried out, “A Sefer Torah lying on the floor! Really everyone should have to fast.” (Similar to when a Sefer Torah falls on the floor.) Some tell over that he actually told everyone they have to fast.
Rabbi Dovid was very poor. Once he heard that the Chassam Sofer was coming to visit him. In the honor of such a great guest he told his wife to go and buy new cutlery. But since he was so poor, he couldn’t afford metal cutlery so he told his wife to by some wooden cutlery.
When the Chassam Sofer entered his house he was extremely upset at the poverty such a great Talmid Chacham had to live. Whilst holding the new wooden spoon, he was lost in thought at the poverty Rabbi Dovid lived.
When Reb Dovid saw the Chassam Sofer studying the wooden spoon for so long, out of sincerity and simplicity he was sure the Chassam Sofer was impressed by the wooden spoon because it was new. He immediately said, “Pressburger Rabbi, I am giving you the spoon as a gift, I don’t want the Rav to be envious and transgress the last of the Aseres Hadibros, Lo Sachmod, don’t be jealous.”
When the first Jews arrived in Poland and other European countries they paid large amounts of money to the kings and leaders that Jewish boys should be exempt from serving in the army. Most kings agreed and they engraved an exemption on silver. It was given to the Turkish Sultan to look after.
When the Austrian king wanted to draft Jewish boys to the army he called a delegation of Rabbis, one of them Rabbi Dovid. The king explained that it would be a favor for the Jews. If everyone but the Jews go to war and after the war, many soldiers are killed or wounded and they see that nothing happened to the Jews because they never went to the battlefields it will surely arouse jealousy and possibly pogroms against the Jews. No one knew what to say.
Rabbi Dovid spoke up and said, “If that is the problem, he has a better idea. After the war, the Jews will hand over as many people that were killed in the war and they will also be killed, according to the percentage of Jews and non-Jews in the country.” One of the other Rabbis got up and argued against Rabbi Dovid, how could one allow Jewish boys to be killed like that. But Rabbi Dovid didn’t change his opinion.
A few minutes later he asked for a bowel and started coughing and throwing up blood. Everyone got a shock. When the king saw that Rabbi Dovid was throwing up blood from such pain he immediately went up to Rabbi Dovid and said, “Rabbi, as long as I am king, no Jewish boy will be drafted.”
The Shas Printing Controversy
Around the beginning of the eighteenth century a non-Jewish printer Anthon Schmid printed a new edition of the Shas Talmud Bavli. He received recommendations from many great Rabbis of the generation. At that time the Maskilim – enlightenment group was very powerful. One of their writers called Ben Zev managed to get the job to edit the mistakes of the new Shas. At the same time he took advantage to add and take out things from the Shas and write in heresy.
Rabbi Dovid came out with a very sharp letter warning of the grave danger of the new Shas. But sadly, people didn’t take much notice. Furthermore, the printer was encouraging to pay up front for the new upcoming print of the Shas.
Rabbi Dovid travelled to Frauenkirchen, located close to Vienna and asked ten people to join him on his trip to Vienna. They took with a Sefer Torah and food for a few days. They rented a house close to the printers. He told the people with him that no one may leave the house without his permission. They all stayed indoors day and night.
On Shabbos in the middle of the leining from the Torah, Rabbi Dovid suddenly stopped the Baal Koreh and shouted, “now is the time to sanctify Hashem’s name. Everyone should quickly follow me.” They followed Rabbi Dovid to the printers. When they opened the doors they saw Ben Zev sitting there without any head covering, holding a pen and writing notes on the Shas. When Ben Zev saw the holy Rabbi Dovid and the people with him, he realized that his disgraceful behavior of desecrating Shabbos and contaminating the Shas was now discovered. He ran to the bathroom and locked the door.
Rabbi Dovid first told his people to check if the ink on the papers was still wet and had been written on Shabbos, which it was. He then told them to call Ben Zev from his hiding place, adding, if he is still alive. But the bathroom door was locked and there was no answer. After an hour the workers in the printers broke down the door and found him dead.
