Rabbi Shimshon ben Pesach of Ostropoli was born in Koritz around the year 5360 (1600). His mother was the daughter of Rabbi Shimshon ben Betzalel Loew, the brother of the Maharal of Prague. His writings are among the deepest and most innovative in Kabbalah, primarily consisting of commentaries on earlier discourses and books, some of which appear for the first time in Rabbi Shimshon's writings. He dealt extensively with gematria, and most of his insights are based on it. Among the central principles of his teachings is that for every force of "powers of impurity," there is a parallel force in holiness, equal to it in gematria and nullifying it.
About three and a half years before the Khmelnytsky Pogroms of 5408-5409 (1648-1649), Rabbi Shimshon revealed that the Maggid who used to deliver Torah insights to him had informed him of the impending decrees. Rabbi Shimshon consequently urged those around him to repent, but the decree had already been sealed. In the month of Av 5408, as the rioters approached, Rabbi Shimshon gathered the people of his town in the synagogue and engaged with them in prayer, until he and they were murdered by the rioters on the 3rd of Av 5408 (1648).
The holy Rabbi Shimshon of Ostropoli, may his merit protect us, did not study Torah in his youth and was different from his brothers who were all great Torah scholars. It came to pass that a very wealthy man came and wanted to take him as a husband for his daughter, but Rabbi Shimshon’s father refused. The wealthy man said he would give a thousand rubles as a dowry, but the father still would not agree. The wealthy man raised the dowry to higher amounts, and Rabbi Shimshon's father said to him: "My son is an ignoramus; why do you want to take him to be your son-in-law?" But the wealthy man insisted that he still found favor in his eyes, and finally they agreed.
On the Shabbat before the wedding, Rabbi Shimshon ascended the podium and gave one sermon on the revealed aspects of Torah and a second on the hidden aspects. His father was astonished and asked him how he had achieved this. Rabbi Shimshon replied that he had a very great soul, but in his childhood, his hat once fell off his head, and then the Sitra Achra (Other Side, the impurity in the world) clung to him and would not allow him to study Torah. Until one day his father struck him on the head with a stick with hard blows until he ran away to the forest, and there Elijah the Prophet was revealed to him and studied with him. The blows inflicted on his head broke the hold the Sitra Achra had on him, and the wellsprings of wisdom were opened to him, and he rose higher and higher through the power of his great soul.
Many great Jewish scholars experienced great difficulty in studying Torah in their childhood. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov recounted that every lesson he learned in his youth required tremendous effort. The Maharam Schick testifies about himself that he had a "pumpkin head" which he turned into a human head through the power of his exertion. It is even told that Maimonides was completely unable to succeed in learning Torah until his father drove him from his home (although this account is questionable).
It is interesting to note that even Rabbi Shimshon's father could not recognize the greatness of his son's soul and knowledge. There are children whose spiritual "tribe," i.e., the root of their soul, is fundamentally different from that of their parents who do not always know how to deal and communicate with the child. In the Tanya, it is written that sometimes a high soul is born to very simple people. In Rabbi Shimshon’s case, even though his father was a great Torah scholar, the son’s soul is higher than his father’s and so the father has no comprehension of the greatness of his son’s soul.
It was his future father-in-law, who had never known him, that sensed that there was something special about him and wanted him as a son-in-law even at a much higher than the usual “price.” From this, we see that often it is precisely the father-in-law who has a sense of his son-in-law's soul. Indeed, the bride is certainly from the root of the groom's soul, and her father is also included in the heavenly proclamation of the match, as the sages state, "Forty days before a soul enters the world, a heavenly proclamation states, ‘the daughter of so-and-so will be wed to the son of so-and-so.’” This is one of the bases for the custom of "kest," whereby the bride's parents support the couple after the marriage and ensure the son-in-law’s continued Torah study. It is expected that the majority of the groom’s development in Torah will occur during these years, and they are also the source of the father-in-law's blessing for good livelihood...
Rabbi Shimshon's flight to the forest after being hit on the head is related to the verse, “flee to your place” as interpreted by the holy Ari: escape to the root of your soul and seclude yourself (hitbodedut) with God alone. This is what the Ba’al Shem Tov did in his youth (according to one version of the story, he did this whenever he was unsuccessful in his studies). He did the same also after his teacher Achiyah HaShiloni was revealed to him. This is the secret of, “And Israel dwelt in safety, alone,” as the Ba’al Shem Tov revealed that when one is with God, there is no place for fear other than Him.
In Chabad, hitbodedut or secluding oneself with God is emphasized primarily on one’s birthday, the time when a person's mazal, the root of their soul and their special tribe is strengthened. Thus we can understand that in education, which requires attention to the root of the soul, hitbodedut plays a central role. It is no coincidence that hitbodedut was the service of Abraham. He was a shepherd who engaged in hitbodedut in the pasture with his flock. Abraham was one, and stood alone with the Creator when the whole world was on the other side. This is precisely how he became the greatest of educators who brought many people under the wings of the Divine Presence.
Rabbi Shimshon was an aspect of Mashiach ben Yosef, as the Seer of Lublin said: “Mashiach ben Ephraim will gather Israel to the Land of Israel, and will not be killed. For Mashiach ben Yosef’s death has already been fulfilled by Rabbi Shimshon of Ostropoli, and a calamity will not strike twice.” When the mazal, the root of the soul, is strengthened, there is a propensity for supernal repentance or return to God (teshuvah ila’ah). Such repentance is not achieved by actively rectifying or contemplating the sin. Rather it constitutes the revelation of the soul’s highest level known as the yechidah (the “singular one”) of the soul, and a deepening in the secrets of Torah that prompts the soul to return to its Creator. Through hitbodedut, the infinite wellsprings of the secrets of secrets belonging to the new Torah of the Mashiach are opened.
1. Numbers 24:11.
2. Deuteronomy 33:28.
