The gaon Reb Shneur Zalman Fradkin, known as the “Gaon of Lublin” or by his sefer “Toras Chesed”, was a chossid of the Tzemach Tzeddek. He was for many years a rov in Lublin, and eventually moved to Eretz Yisroel. He had a rare genius mind that was able to completely retain what he read just once. He passed away on the 5th of Nissan, תרס”ב and is buried in the Chabad section on Har Hazaisim.
The maternal grandfather of the Toras Chesed was a chossid of the Alter Rebbe. Once when this grandfather was by the Rebbe, mentioning his family members for a bracha, he forgot to mention his young daughter. The Alter Rebbe, sensed this, asked him why he had failed to mention her, and the chossid off-handedly replied, “She’s just a small girl.” The Alter Rebbe told him, “From this little girl will come a son who will illuminate the entire world with his Torah!”
The Alter Rebbe then requested that the child that would eventually be born should be named after him, Schneur Zalman.
Many stories are told of the unparalleled genius of the Toras Chesed:
The great genius and author of the Halachic encyclopedia Sdei Chemed once visited the Toras Chesed. He commented that the Toras Chesed certainly does not read his seforim, since it is a contemporary sefer. The gaon told him, “I do look in to your seforim and I can prove it,” and he began reciting portions of the sefer Sdei Chemed verbatim.
The Toras Chesed was once traveling on a train from Polotzk to another city. In his car, sat a learned young man, who noticed that the lips of the gaon were constantly moving. The man initiated a conversation with the Toras Chesed and asked him what he was saying the whole time. The gaon was forced to admit that every month he reviews, by heart, a sefer of one of the acharonim, and he was currently reviewing the sefer Chavos Ya’ir (responsa by a German rov in the 1600’s).
The famous chossid and mashpia Rashbatz earned a living through selling seforim, particularly to the chassidim and rabbonim who visited Lubavitch. He generally allowed his customers to browse through a sefer before buying it – except for the Toras Chesed since once he looked through the sefer he had no need to buy it...
