Rabbi Yaakov Dovid Wilovsky zt"l
Known as The Ridbaz
Author: Teshuvos Ridbaz
Rabbi in Izabelin, Bobruisk, Vilna, Slutsk
1 Tishri 5674 (1913)
One freezing cold winter day the elderly Ridbaz made his way to Shul. It was his father’s Yahrzeit. The Ridbaz was the Chazzan and said Kaddish. He was very emotional during his prayers.
After he finished the men who davened together with him asked him what happened.
The Ridbaz explained that it wasn’t the calendar date, the yahrzeit that had brought him some vivid memories but it was the freezing cold weather.
“When I was a young boy I had a private Rebbi who taught me. My parents weren’t rich but they paid for me to have private Rebbi. They cut back on many basics in order to pay my Rebbi. One year the winter was very cold and my father had no work. No work meant no wages. I kept on studying with my Rebbi every day. One day he sent me home with a note. It was already three months that he hadn’t been paid. If he wasn’t paid immediately he was going to stop learning with me.”
“My parents were devastated. My father went to Shul to daven Mincha. He came back all happy. The president of the Shul had asked him to build him a fireplace for his daughter getting married next week. No one could do the job as the transportation had come to a standstill and there were no bricks to be found. He told the president that he could accept the job. My father came home and took apart our brick fireplace carefully. He gathered the stones and went off to the home of the new couple and built them a fireplace. The money he earned went straight to the Rebbi.”
“That winter was exceptionally cold. We were all shivering under our blankets. But my parents made clear that it was a worthy price to pay for my studies. Today is such a cold day and I am no youngster. But when I remember how my parents shivered for my Torah study I felt I had to make the extra effort to come and say Kaddish for my father.”
