Rabbi Hillel HaLevi of Paritch was born in the town of Khmilnyk (Ukraine) in 5555 (1795), to his father Rabbi Meir, a Chernobyl Chasid. Even in his childhood, he was well-versed in Talmud and poskim (legal authorities), studied Kabbalah books, and prayed with the Arizal's mystical intentions. He married before his bar mitzvah. When the Book of Tanya came into his possession, he became a Chabad Chasid, but despite his efforts, he did not merit to meet the author of the Tanya, the Alter Rebbe of Chabad. In 5578 (1818), he was sent by the Mittler Rebbe "to gather materiality and sow spirituality" in the agricultural settlements established by the Rebbe in the Kherson region. Thus Rabbi Hillel became the spiritual guide for tens of thousands of Jews. He dedicated his life to spreading Torah and Chasidut and sacrificed himself to provide kosher food for Jewish soldiers in the Tsar's army. In 5600 (1840), he was appointed as the rabbi of the town of Paritch (Parichi, Belarus) in White Russia, and later served as the rabbi of nearby Babruysk (Belarus). Rabbi Hillel used to record everything he heard from his rebbes and add explanations. He also composed deep chasidic melodies. His Torah teachings were collected in the series of books titled Pelach HaRimon, in a volume titled Imrei Noam, and elsewhere. He passed away in the town of Kherson on Shabbat, the 11th of Av, Shabbat Nachamu 5624 (1864) and there lies his resting place.
It was common for the Mittler Rebbe and the Tzemach Tzedek to send young men to the holy chasid Rebbe Hillel of Paritch to teach them the Chasidic path and way of life and to instruct them in Chasidic philosophy. Rebbe Hillel was very structured and orderly in his teaching and invariably would begin by relating the same two stories to the young men:
At great length, he would talk about the righteous convert, Count Potocki, how he conducted himself with fasts and self-afflictions. Worms crawled on his body, and if a worm fell to the ground, he would pick it up and say: "Eat my impure body!" Even when he was imprisoned by the regime for converting to Judaism, he afflicted himself with all kinds of self-mortifications. When they sentenced him to be burned at the stake, there was a possibility to lighten his sentence and to save him from death, but he desired to be killed for the sanctification of God's Name.
Rebbe Hillel concluded and explained that this was before the revelation of chasidic teachings: Chasidut explains the virtue of practical mitzvot, and not to afflict oneself, as the sages said, "Better is one hour of repentance and good deeds in this world than all the life of the World to Come."
Rebbe Hillel would also tell them about the Maharam of Rothenburg, one of the great early sages of the Middle Ages. A certain nobleman captured the Maharam, locked him in a tower, and demanded a large ransom from the Jewish community to release him. The Maharam ruled from within the prison that they should not pay the ransom, for if they did, every nobleman would capture rabbis and demand large sums to free them. As instructed, the Jews did not cooperate, and the Maharam of Rothenburg languished in prison from the 4th of Tammuz 5046 (1286) until the 19th of Iyar 5053 (1293), when he passed away.
But that was not the end of it. After his passing, the nobleman continued to demand a large ransom just to allow his body to be buried. The Jews were impoverished then and did not have the means to release even the body of their rabbi, and he was not buried until the year 5067 (1307). A wealthy man named Alexander ben Shlomo put his life in his hands and interceded with the nobleman, spending a great amount to release the Maharam’s body and bring it to a Jewish burial.
After the burial, the Maharam came to the wealthy man in a dream and said to him. “Choose for yourself one of two things: either your descendants after you until the end of history will merit wealth and honor, or you will die immediately and merit the life of the World to Come with me in my chambers.” The Maharam’s benefactor, Alexander ben Shlomo chose to die and be with the Maharam in his chambers in the afterlife.
Rebbe Hillel then proceeded to explain that this was the right choice to make before Chasidut was revealed in the world. Because, as revealed by the Ba’al Shem Tov, the virtue of performing practical mitzvot in our reality, in the World of the Living, far surpasses the afterlife. As the sages said, "Better is one hour of repentance and good deeds in this world than all the life of the afterlife."
Through these stories, we encounter Rebbe Hillel in one of his most important roles in life: the Chasidic mashpia (spiritual mentor), whose task is to guide his followers at the beginning of their path as chasidim and beyond. He is a kind of super-educator, deeply shaping the souls of the students and revealing hidden layers within them. In Chabad, Rebbe Hillel is remembered as the greatest of the Chasidic spiritual mentors, and his Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek, relied on him greatly: every new young man seeking to join the chasidic community was sent to Rebbe Hillel for a training period that could last months or even years. Only after completing his time with Rebbe Hillel was the young man eligible to enter the Rebbe's presence and receive from him.
There are two types of intellect discussed in Kabbalah. The first is known as “the mind of father,” corresponding to the sefirah of wisdom and the second “the mind of mother,” corresponding to the sefirah of understanding. The mind of wisdom/father imparts a spark of intellect—a seminal idea, and the mind of understanding/mother contemplates and builds it into a complete well-formed thought and even complex system with myriad details. For a chasid—a devoted disciple of a tzaddik—the rebbe fulfills the role of the fatherly intellect that provides new inspiration and direction, and the mashpia takes the role of the mother who develops and refines the rebbe’s words. In particular, the mashpia must develop in the young chasid the power of comprehension, a subset of the mind of understanding, which absorbs and internalizes the Rebbe's wisdom even before he—the chasid—has continued to delve into it and develop it himself. Rebbe Hillel’s two stories, with which he began the preliminary induction of every new chasid provide an even earlier step. Their purpose is to distinguish between the worldview of Chasidut, which the student is entering, and the accepted and normative worldview that preceded it.
Both stories revolve around the significance of performing God’s mitzvot, or commandments. Customarily, there are two general types of “genius” in Judaism: genius of thought (a maskil) and genius of action (an oived), which is considered an extension of the heart and its emotive faculties. Interestingly, in his youth, Rebbe Hillel was known as the “Genius of Chumtz,” famous for his erudition and scholarly talent, i.e., for his genius in thought. As he matured and became a devoted disciple of the Chabad rebbes, he was considered a wondrous oived or “servant of God” with a great heart, and so he had become a “genius of action” and is considered to have reached the level of a tzaddik, a righteous individual, as described in the Tanya. The Tzemach Tzedek—the third Lubavitcher Rebbe—even said of him that there had not been a tzaddik in action like him in this world for three hundred years!
If we contemplate the Tzemach Tzedek’s words (considering them historically, i.e., who lived 300 years before Rebbe Hillel), we will realize that it places Rebbe Hillel above even the Arizal, the Baal Shem Tov, and many other holy figures when it comes to his “genius of action.” This is indeed a surprising declaration but aligns well with the first two stories he would impress upon his young students. For Rebbe Hillel understood that the core of Chasidut—the purpose of all Divine service (avoidah) and all intellectual comprehension (haskalah)— is to facilitate the our dedication to and performance of mitzvot in this lifetime.
