Rav Gershon Shaul Yomtov Lipman Heller Tosfos Yom Tov (Elul 26, 5414 / 1654 - 370th Yahrzeit)
(Some say the Yahrzeit is on the 6th of Elul)
Born in Wallerstein, Bavaria in the year 5339 (1579), Rav Yom Tov was orphaned from his father before he was born and raised by his grandfather, Rav Moshe Wallerstein, who served as Chief Rabbi of all German Jewry. He was a descendant of Rav Nosson, author of the Aruch.
His two chief mentors and rebbis were the Maharal of Prague, Rav Yaakov Ginzberg, Av Beis Din of Friedburg and Prague, and Rav Shlomo Ephraim Luntshitz, author of Kli Yakar and Olelos Ephraim.
At age eighteen, in 5357, he was appointed as a dayan and rosh yeshiva in Prague, in the beis din of the Maharal. His fame spread throughout the entire world as a gaon. At age thirty, he authored his magnum opus, the Tosafos Yom Tov on Shas Mishnayos.
In 5378, he authored two selichos describing the worries and fears of the Jewish community over the Prague rebellion. These were published as Selichos on the 14th of Cheshvan in Prague, 5381.
In MarCheshvan of 5385, he was appointed Av Beis Din of Nikolsberg, Moravia, and on Rosh Chodesh Adar of 5385 to Av Beis Din Vienna.
Vienna was a newly established kehillah, and some of the new takanos and reforms he established included the daily study of Orchos Chaim of the Rosh before Shacharis, which he personally translated into Yiddish (published in Prague in 5386) so that everyone could understand them.
In Teves of 5387 (1627), Rav Heller was appointed Av Beis Din of Prague. He began his tenure there in Nissan, and about half a year later he was appointed as Rosh Yeshiva as well, succeeding his mentor, the Maharal. He completed Ma’adanei Melech and Lechem Chamudos on the Rosh and began work on his sefer, Malbushei Yom Tov, a super-commentary on the commentary of the Levush on the Arba Turim.
The backdrop to his tenure was the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), a time of chaos and uncertainty for the populace of Bohemia and Prague, and especially for its Jews. The war emptied the government coffers, leading them to impose heavy taxes, a great financial burden upon the Jewish community. While it was the government officials that levied the taxes, the government left the collection up to the Jews themselves. This led to bitter disputes, as many of the wealthier and more powerful figures in the community tried their best to shirk responsibility, while the poorer and weaker Jews were unfairly burdened with taxes they had difficulty in paying.
The Tosafos Yom Tov was very upset by such underhanded measures that went against the derech haTorah, so he had himself appointed to the committee overseeing the tax collection. He saw to it that the taxes were collected evenly and fairly so that wealthier Jews shouldered the burden according to their means.
This act, alongside his other reforms as rabbi, earned him some bitter opponents, who initiated a slanderous libel against him and falsely accused him before the king. The slander claimed that he had disparaged and insulted the Christian faith in his sefarim Ma’adanei Melech and Lechem Chamudos. King Ferdinand II accepted the false rumors and ordered the Tosafos Yom Tov brought in chains and iron
A Fast For All Generations
On the 4th of Tammuz, the Imperial Judge arrived to reveal the terrible decree. On the 5th of Tammuz, 5389 (1629), a date that he would later establish as a fast day for his family and all of his descendants, the Tosafos Yom Tov left Prague. He writes about this in Megillas Eivah:
“And now my children, listen to me and may your souls be revived. As I was looking through my manuscripts with the commentaries and chiddushim I composed that Hashem merited me to author, I came across something I had written down that I had heard from Rav Pinchas of Cracow, a great man, head of the leaders of Vaad Arba Aratzos – the Council of the Four Lands, the son of Rav Zalman Yeshaya Segal Horowitz of Prague. .when I was in Prague I heard him say: ‘I have a tradition that during the time of the harsh decrees, when the government decreed that on the 5th of Tammuz all the holy Jewish books should be burned, the wise sages of that generation, by means of a she’alas chalom – a dream quest – made an inquiry and asked why this evil had befallen them. They were answered: “Zos Chukas HaTorah K’Targumo.” They interpreted it to be referring to the Aramaic translation of the pasuk in that week’s parsha reading, which was Chukas. The Aramaic translation of the pasuk is “Da Gezeiras Oraisa,” where the word “da” is equal in gematria to 5 (Dalet plus Alef = 4 plus 1).’ I believe this refers to my sefarim, which were originally ordered to be burned and destroyed, and because of them I was forced to leave my home in Prague on the 5th of Tammuz to the Kaiser’s court. The dream spoke of a gezeira – a decree; it was regarding the ancient decree, but I believe it refers to my decree as well, as I was arrested over matters of chukas haTorah. I was arrested on the 17th of Tammuz after chatzos (midday), and I was released 28 days later after chatzos in Menachem Av, equaling a period of forty days, the same as the forty days of disgrace and wandering of Am Yisrael in the desert. I therefore decided to instruct you all, and all your descendants, my sons and my daughters and my sons-in-law and daughters-in-law until the coming of Mashiach, to fast on the 5th of Tammuz until after Maariv. Since it falls out in the summer, when the days are longer, I do not decree until the time of nightfall after the stars come out. If the date falls out on Shabbos, it should be pushed off until Sunday. They can fast until after they daven Minchah Gedolah, and they need not complete the fast longer than this time. Whoever has a weak constitution or is pregnant or nursing can redeem themselves with no less than the value of three large Viennese coins. I was in doubt whether or not to establish the 28th of Menachem Av, the day of my freedom, as a festival and yom tov, as do many of our people to commemorate the day they went free or were saved from a judgment of death. However, I was left bereft and penniless with nothing but the shirt on my back; all my honor and glory were taken from me as well as the rabbinate, and my debts were so heavy I saw no way to repay them since I was left with no means or property. I debated the matter back and forth, and in the midst of my indeterminacy and deliberations, the sefer Yosef Lekack, a commentary on Megillas Esther by Rav Eliezer Ashkenazi (1513-1586, Yahrzeit 22 Kislev) author of Maasei Hashem, came to hand. In the Introduction, he asks, the following question: ‘Why is it that the Kohanim Bnei Chashmonai decided not to establish any festival days to commemorate and celebrate the miraculous salvation and redemption of Am Yisrael? It was an event that demonstrated the supernatural, a victory of the few over the many, their redemption was even greater than the one in the times of Mordechai and Esther. The events of that time, which became Purim, were not overtly supernatural or miraculous; they were instead covert and hidden in nature where the king’s heart was overturned in an instant from evil to good. The answer he gives is that in the days of the Chashmonaim, the joy was incomplete since so many had died and the Beis Hamikdash was ransacked.’ I am in a similar situation, for my joy remains incomplete and I am still filled with sorrow and grief. I remain anguished and pained until Hashem favors me and restores my past crown of glory and improves my future,” (Megillas Eivah).
On the 8th of Tammuz, the Tosafos Yom Tov set out for Vienna, where he was accused, interrogated and jailed. Imprisoned while awaiting final judgment, his life was in great danger. The leaders and heads of the community rose up and took action to defend him and secure his release; even gentile officials and ministers who had met him defended his innocence and protested his imprisonment on an offense that was nothing more than a false libel.
He languished in prison for forty days. On the 28th of Menachem Av, 5389, the community’s efforts bore fruit and while he was released and exonerated from the capital offense, the magistrate ordered him to pay a bond of 12,000 gulden to King Ferdinand II which was in those days a princely sum that all the Jews of Vienna and Prague together could not raise. Furthermore, the magistrate ordered that his sefarim be burned and that henceforth he was forbidden from serving as an Av Beis Din in all the kingdom and its provinces. This final judgment was a terrible blow to the Tosafos Yom Tov, for now he had lost his entire livelihood and source of income. Eventually the sentence was commuted, his sefarim were censored rather than burned and he was allowed to serve as Rav but not in Prague itself. The troubles, tragedy and suffering were recorded in his autobiography Megillas Eivah. Eivah, he writes, “stands for the acronym Eicha Yashva Badad HaIr – The city of Jerusalem sits solitary,” an echo of Megillas Eicha, which we read on Tisha B'Av.
He concludes his preface with the remark, “Whoever reads this and suffers along with me
