The Rabbinic Council of Warsaw counted about 20 rabbis in its ranks, all of them Torah greats. Among them was one rabbi who was known for being a very active scholar, one that the Jews of Warsaw called the “Rav of Plonsk” (the city where he previously served as rabbi). However outside of Warsaw people knew him by his actual name, Rabbi Tzvi Yechezkel Michelson, the author of the book of responsa entitled Tirosh VeYitzhar.
Rabbi Tzvi Yechezkel was born on Shevat 9, 5623 (1863) in Bilgorei, in the province of Lublin. His father was Rabbi Avraham Chaim (from a family that included many rabbis and Torah greats), and his mother was Chana Beila.
Rabbi Tzvi Yechezkel used to say that a miracle happened to him when he was very young. While his mother was staying with her father Rabbi Shemuel Eliyahu, armed Poles entered their home and fired upon his mother while she was holding the tiny Tzvi Yechezkel in her arms. The miracle was that they were not killed.
His parents hired the best personal tutor for him, and they also purchased valuable books for the boy. The young Tzvi Yechezkel began to assemble a nice library for himself, studying Torah “as I poured out my soul with great effort” (which he recounts in the introduction to his book Pinot HaBayit). By the age of 12, he already knew several masechtos along with Tosfos and portions of the Shulchan Aruch by heart. It was also at that time that he began to write Torah commentaries and entered into correspondence with the greats of the generation. When he grew up, he was sent to study in the Biala yeshiva. There he became close friends with the Rosh Yeshiva and Rav, the Rebbe Zev Nochum, who after a certain time addressed him in his letters as “the one whom I cherish as the apple of my eye.”
In 5639 he married Hinde Seryl, the daughter of his uncle (his mother’s brother), Rabbi David Tevel of Shverdsharf, who generously provided for him. Rabbi Dovid purchased expensive books for his son-in-law and sent him to well-known spas in order for him to recover from various illnesses. He studied Torah day and night while living in his father-in-law’s home, and it was during that time that he was given Semichah by the giants of the generation, namely Rabbi Shneur Zalman Fradkin of Lublin (the author of Torat Chesed), Rabbi Chaim Elazar Wachs of Kalish (the author of Nefesh Chaya), and Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Teomim Moladavi.
In the meantime, his father-in-law experienced a reversal of fortune, and Rabbi Tzvi Yechezkel decided to open up a print shop in order to earn a living. He went to ask for advice from the Gerer Rebbe (the author of Sefat Emet), since he was one of his chassidim. The Rebbe did not agree that he should go into business: “You should be a Rav in Israel, not a businessman,” the Rebbe told him. As he was returning from Ger, the leaders of the Jewish community from the city of Krasnobrod came to him with an offer to become their Rav. Rabbi Tzvi Yechezkel immediately packed his things and left for Krasnobrod in order to obey his Rebbe’s wishes. Rabbi Gershon Chanoch Leiner, the Rebbe of Radzin and author of Techelet and Sidrei Taharot, wrote to the inhabitants of Krasnobrod to congratulate them on their new Rav: “Rejoice, residents of Krasnobrod, for
