The Sun Sets
In Zaire
The year 1986/5746 brought with it new difficulties. When tallying his finances for the year, Reb Shmuel realized that he had accrued extensive losses, and once again, things were in a decline.
At the time, a friend with connections to key figures in Zaire, Africa, suggested that he open a sales office in Kinshasa, Zaire. (The Democratic Republic of the Congo was called Zaire from 1971 to 1997.) After receiving a Zairian government permit, he’d be able to purchase diamonds directly from the mines.
Africa was far away and foreign, but Reb Shmuel was not afraid. He was nearly sixty years old when he traveled to that country and stayed for a few weeks. He spent his time in the jungle, surrounded by indigenous people, enduring subhuman conditions. He did not eat anything but pineapples and water that he drank from the wells. He spent his nights in a tent, cut off from the outside world; he did not even have phone contact with his family or with anyone else.
It’s hard to understand how he was able to handle these primitive conditions at his age, with his status, and after so many painful blows. The strong desire that burned within him was awe-inspiring.
Reb Shmuel did open an office in Africa, but regretfully, despite his best efforts, the endeavor was not successful. He eventually had to close the factory in Zaire after it incurred tremendous losses.
In Romania
At that point, Reb Shmuel felt that he’d reached the end of the road and there was no hope anymore. But then, a new proposal was presented. In Romania, there seemed to be a resurgence of the economy. The local government was interested in developing and modernizing the country. He was offered a proposal to open a diamond factory in Romania, in partnership with the government.
Reb Shmuel was pleased with the proposal; after all, he was a Romanian citizen. He also discerned the potential in the idea — he could keep costs down with the cheap labor available. Therefore, he built a factory that employed hundreds of workers — not hesitating to undertake such an ambitious project although he was already sixty years old.
The Romanian media ran stories with his picture about his initiative to establish the diamond industry in the country. The factory was successful, with production at a high standard. But there, too, he faced abject failure despite the tremendous resources and efforts invested. It had seemed like a surefire success, but in reality, for unexpected reasons, the losses were tremendous.
Reb Shmuel accepted the turn of events with emunah, knowing that HaKadosh Baruch Hu guided his every step in life. Often during those years he told his children, “There were years when I was successful with everything I touched. Now, times have changed — whatever I touch fails. Hashem gave and Hashem took.” The certainty he had on the matter showed the strength of his convictions.
Who Knows What’s Better?
Reb Shmuel’s son, Reb Chaim Moshe, related:
Around that time, I went with my father to Harav Shmuel Wosner. The Rav began to shower him with brachos that his previous success be restored. Suddenly, the Rav stopped and said, “Who knows? Maybe it’s better this way?” And at that, he stopped the brachos he was in middle of giving.
We were able to see the strength of my father’s emunah, as he often said, “Hashem loves me, and if this is the way it has to be, who am I to complain?”
He thus conveyed his values, displaying how he held fast to his remarkable and unshakeable path of mussar — a level which can be achieved only through such crises. He taught us what it means to accept suffering with love, and through his actions, we saw that the mainstays of his life were ahavas Hashem, emunah, and being close to talmidei chachamim.
Days Are Yet Coming
This story took place while Reb Shmuel was still very wealthy:
His children noticed something interesting about the house on Rechov Saadya Gaon, and they asked their father, “Why is it that when you built the house, you didn’t divide the guest room from the dining room with a solid wall? Why did you put only a sliding door between them?”
He responded simply. “When I built this villa, I also considered the future, when I’d be old and weak. I wanted to make sure that as an old man, I would be able to lie in bed in the guest room and daven with the minyan that would be in the dining room.”
They were shocked that at the peak of his wealth and success — he was just forty-one years old when he built the villa — he thought about the future to such an extent, and was concerned about how he’d fulfill his spiritual requirements a number of years hence. He was already imagining himself davening with a minyan as an old man! Already in his younger years, he was preparing himself to finish his days in holiness and purity — and indeed, he merited to do so.
The Hardest Day of His Life
In 1994, Reb Shmuel closed the Shikkun Hey factory, the place where he had invested his heart and soul, physically and emotionally. He had managed to keep the factory open until then, even though he’d been losing money every month.
Reb Berish Katz of Kiryat Vizhnitz, who worked in the factory, related:
Reb Shmuel stood there and cried while dismissing us. His workers also wept, feeling the grief of this precious man. The painful scene is one that none of the workers will forget.
Nearing the End
In 5756/1996, Reb Shmuel had to sell all his businesses, which extinguished all hope for financial recovery. Until then, he had still harbored the hope that he might recover and restore his previous standing. But when those aspirations did not materialize, the crushing losses negatively affected his health as well.
Despite his perilous health during those final years, he still insisted on attending the Vizhnitzer Rebbe’s Friday night tish and the Torah shiurim in Kiryat Vizhnitz.
Even in his declined physical state, he was never short-tempered or irritable and he conducted himself with great fortitude. He accepted his lot in silence, preparing himself to transition to the next world in holiness and purity. His condition deteriorated over a period of eight years.
My Holy Father Will Take Care of Him
Reb Yitzchak Beirach Daskal related:
On Monday afternoon, the second day of Rosh Chodesh Elul 5764/2004, while we were in the hospital at my father’s bedside, he lost consciousness.
My brother-in-law, Harav Chaim Yitzchak Zuckerman, rushed to be mazkir him to the Vizhnitzer Rebbe, the Yeshuos Moshe. To our shock, the Rebbe did not bless him, but he remarked, “My holy father will take care of him!”
These words are noteworthy in light of what was related in Chapter Twenty-Five, about the countless times that my father had asked the Imrei Chaim to keep his favors on account.
Now the time had come to have all those favors repaid.
A few hours later, Shmuel Yehuda ben Chaim Moshe departed from this world, a world in which so many people had been helped by him. Above, the multitudes of angels created from his good deeds and tzedakah waited to greet him and to advocate for him.
The Day of His Passing: 1 Elul 5764
It is interesting that Reb Shmuel returned his soul to its Creator on the first day of the month of Elul, the month of Selichos and rachamim.
On the day that all of Am Yisrael pledges to act with chessed towards one another, and to treat others with compassion and love, a person who was a veritable fount of chessed and compassion to all of the Ribbono shel Olam’s creations parted from this world.
Moreover, according to the holy sefarim, each month has a special passuk which contains an allusion to the Name of Hashem. In Elul, the Name of Hashem is alluded to by an acronym of the last letters of the words “U’tzedakah tihiyeh lanu ki.” It is the only month in which the associated passuk refers to tzedakah, and it was in that month that his soul returned to its Maker.
The Will of Those Who Fear Him Will Be Fulfilled
It’s interesting to note that throughout the years, Reb Shmuel was scrupulous about fasting on the yahrtzeits of his father and mother. Even during the years when fasting was hard for him, he would not forego this practice. Nevertheless, he instructed his children not to fast for him after he departed this world — and then, he passed away on Rosh Chodesh, a day when fasting is prohibited.
Moreover, he once told his children that eulogizing someone who passes away is good for the soul. They understood that he was asking them to eulogize him. His passing occurred on the second day of Rosh Chodesh Elul, and on Rosh Chodesh, one does not eulogize.
However, the levayah itself took place on Motzaei Rosh Chodesh — that night — when hespedim are permitted.
A Eulogy
Reb Yitzchak Beirach Daskal related:
It is extremely difficult for a son to eulogize a father, especially when the father’s greatness had reached a level that it would not be possible to touch on even a fraction of what he was. Still, there was no way for me not to be maspid him at the levayah.
I addressed his tremendous love for chessed and his yiras Hashem; described the establishment of Vizhnitz Institutions through profit-yielding foundations, among them the Vizhnitz Cemetery and the Vizhnitz Hotel; and depicted his absolute adherence and submission to his Rebbes. I concluded with the words of Chazal, “Ashrei mi she-gadol baTorah, fortunate is he who is great in Torah, whose toil is in Torah, who provides nachas to his Creator, and who grew up with a good name and passed away with a good name.” And as Shlomo said (Koheles 7) that “tov shem mishemen tov, a good name is better than good oil, and the day of death than the day of one’s birth” (Brachos 17a).
Harav Eliezer Dovid Friedman, one of the rabbanim in London, then gave a hesped. He said that my father’s standing in Vizhnitz was such that the first wedding invitation that mechutanim in Vizhnitz sent was to Reb Shmuel Daskal.
He further related that someone once suggested to the Imrei Chaim that he bring down an abundance of parnassah to a number of chassidim, to somewhat ease the financial burden on the administrators of the institutions. Replied the Rebbe, “It is a very big responsibility to bring this about, since the nisayon of wealth is tremendous. But I know that Reb Shmuel Daskal will withstand that nisayon!” In time, the Rebbe said, “I worked to bring down parnassah for Reb Shmuel Daskal and I succeeded” — adding, “and how I succeeded!”
The last maspid was Rabbi Tzvi Feivish Miller, the deputy director of Igud Mosdos Vizhnitz, who recited the passuk, “U’Shmuel bekorei Shemo,” and said, “The name of Shmuel Daskal said everything...”
He noted that his place behind the Rebbe at the tish throughout the years was a symbol of his tireless devotion and loyalty to Vizhnitz in general, and to the Rebbe in particular. He added that undoubtedly, in the Upper Worlds, his place would also surely be very close to that of the Imrei Chaim, because he gave so much to Vizhnitz Institutions and to the Rebbe.
The Levayah
Reb Shmuel’s levayah, which departed late at night from the beis medrash in Kiryat Vizhnitz, was attended by thousands of residents of Bnei Brak, notably Vizhnitzer chassidim, who came to pay their last respects to this ish chessed. They were led by the Vizhnitzer Rebbe, the Yeshuos Moshe.
Even though the talmidim of Vizhnitzer Yeshivos do not usually participate in levayos so as not to disrupt their learning sedarim, this directive was changed for Reb Shmuel. Hundreds of yeshivah students attended despite the late hour.
He was carried to his final resting place in the old cemetery in Zichron Meir, near his father’s gravesite and across from the ohel of the Vizhnitzer Rebbes.
Although at the time, the Vizhnitzer Rebbe was no longer attending levayos because he was too weak, he escorted this levayah from the beis medrash until the cemetery.
The Bohusher Rebbe also instructed all the talmidim in his yeshivah to participate in the levayah because of Reb Shmuel’s tremendous contribution to Bohusher chassidus over the years. The Bohusher Rebbe himself walked at the head of the procession, together with the Vizhnitzer Rebbe.
The Shivah and Hakamas Matzeivah
Thousands of people came to be menachem avel during the shivah, including rebbes, roshei yeshivah, rabbanim, dayanim and people from the entire spectrum of communities. Everyone had remarkable stories about his deeds, most of which were done quietly. The impact that these stories created was the impetus for this book.
On Sunday after Rosh Hashanah, Tzom Gedalya, the matzeivah was put up at Reb Shmuel’s gravesite, and a seudah was held at the Vizhnitz Hotel, which he had been so instrumental in establishing. Many prominent Vizhnitzer chassidim attended.
Reb Shmuel’s son, Reb Yitzchak Beirach, delivered a hesped at this seudah as well, and emphasized that despite the fact that Reb Shmuel’s occupation was in the business world, his soul was constantly yearning for holiness, and his aspirations to accumulate wealth were only so that he could distribute it to the poor.
Pure Ones Will Come
Reb Mordechai Weiss, the person who built the matzeivah, and did not know Reb Shmuel personally, related emotionally:
Reb Shmuel was surely a great person. What happened with his matzeivah was something I had never experienced before. I employ two workers who help me put up the headstones. On the day that we were supposed to erect the matzeivah at Reb Shmuel’s gravesite, one of the workers was unable to get to work. I asked my son, a kollel avreich, to come and help the second worker.
When we moved the matzeivah from the car, the second worker broke his leg. After arranging medical care for the worker, I was at a loss, since we needed another person to help out. Seeing there was no choice, my son called another friend from kollel to come help us. Believe me, it never happened to me that two kollel avreichim should put up a matzeivah. But Reb Shmuel apparently has great zechusim!
Conclusion
We have endeavored to open a window into a world of tzedakah and chessed, of middos and pure emunah, of ahavas Torah and yiras Hashem, of emunas chachamim and support of Torah.
There is no benefit in merely reading — the objective is learning from Reb Shmuel’s deeds.
It is our sincere hope that this book will motivate all who read it to follow in his footsteps, and this should serve as an aliyah for the neshamah.
Tehei nafsho tzerurah bitzror hachaim, amen.
