Rebbe Baruch of Mezhibuzh was born in 5513 (1753) to Rabbi Yechiel Michel Ashkenazi and Adel, the only daughter of the Ba’al Shem Tov. He grew up with his grandfather for three years, and was then educated by the Maggid of Mezritch, Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polnoye, and Rabbi Pinchas of Koretz. He also learned from Rabbi Ze'ev Kitzes while living in Ostroh. He married the daughter of one of Ostroh's wealthy men, Rabbi Tuvia Katzkess. So long as his teachers were alive, he refused to assume the mantle of Rebbe, but in 5540 (1780) he was accepted as Rebbe in the town of Tulchyn, his father's place of residence, from where he led his court. In 5548 (1788) he moved to Mezhibuzh, but continued to visit Tulchyn periodically, residing there exclusively during the summer months.
Rebbe Baruch was known for his strict demeanor and exact demands. He applied to himself the Zohar's phrase from the "Brich Shmei" prayer, "And may I be appointed and rule among the righteous." He passed away on the 18th of Kislev and was buried in Mezhibuzh, in close proximity to his grandfather the Ba’al Shem Tov. Today their graves are in the same building (ohel).
In the year 5603 (1843), the Russian government called a rabbinical conference in Petersburg to discuss several matters pertaining to the religious life of the Jews. Chosen for the conference were: the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek of Lubavitch, Rabbi Yitzchak (Iche) of Volozhin, the wealthy Rabbi Yisrael Halperin from Berditchev, and Mr. Betzalel Stern, principal of the school in Odessa.
When the Tzemach Tzedek returned home to Lubavitch from his journey, he heard the chasidim saying about him that he had sacrificed himself in Petersburg for the sake of the Jewish people. The Rebbe wept profusely and said: “Woe to him whom the world misunderstands!” And then the Rebbe added and said: “Can this be called self-sacrifice!? When a person sacrifices himself for the Jewish people yet still has an underlying ulterior motive to augment his reward in the World to Come!? There is nothing remarkable about this! True self-sacrifice is like what I heard about the holy Rebbe Baruch of Mezhibuzh, of blessed memory, who sacrificed himself and his World to Come for the sake of one individual Jew. Moreover, not for that man’s life, but merely for saving his property!”
The Tzemach Tzedek then told the chasidim about Rebbe Baruch of Mezhibuzh’s self-sacrifice:
One of Rebbe Baruch’s close followers, a pious and God-fearing chasid, was a wine merchant who would transport wine to distant cities. This merchant did not have enough money himself to purchase the wine, but because he was known as an honest and trustworthy man, the successful wine merchants would give him goods on credit. Once, while he was on the road at an inn, he was suddenly struck with thoughts of repentance over some matter he had not properly rectified. In his intense awakening to sincere repentance, he abandoned the wagons with the wine at the inn and went to Mezhibuzh.
When he came to the holy Rebbe, Rebbe Baruch asked him about his business and trade, and the man told him everything that had happened. When Rebbe Baruch heard that he had left the wine abandoned at the inn, he began to berate and rebuke him: “You fool! How dare you abandon other people’s property for no reason?”
This was on Friday afternoon. Later, on Friday night during the meal, and again the next day, Rebbe Baruch continued to rebuke and insult him with all kinds of reproaches and denigrations, shaming him publicly before all those present. Rebbe Baruch’s in-law, the righteous Rabbi Avraham of Chmelnik (Khmilnyk), of blessed memory, was a guest there at the time. Rabbi Avraham couldn't contain himself, seeing the great humiliation of the man, and turned to Rebbe Baruch with a question: “My in-law! What about the Talmud's statement, ‘Whoever shames his fellow in public...?’”
Rebbe Baruch replied: Do I not know that one who shames his fellow in public has no share in the World to Come? But I have forsaken my World to Come to do good for this man. His wagon drivers had conspired among themselves to steal all his wine and cause him great loss. However, the pain and suffering the man endured from my reproaches and insults saved him from their plans. The pain of financial loss was exchanged for the pain of humiliation.
“This,” concluded the Tzemach Tzedek, “is true self-sacrifice: to give up one's World to Come for the sake of saving the property of a single Jew!”
Rebbe Baruch always concealed his deep-seated compassion behind a facade of anger, and it is even told that when he passed away, his finger was resting on the holy Zohar, on the words “There is anger that brings blessing from above and from below and it is called Baruch [i.e., blessed].”
Compassion and Miracles
In Sha'ar HaYichud VeHaEmunah in the Tanya, it is explained that the main attribute of God’s compassion is revealed through the miracles and wonders performed by the righteous, and through the miracles and wonders described in the Torah. This applies, of course, to Rebbe Baruch's blessed “rebukes” but also to the seemingly bitter miracles described in the Torah and the Prophets, such as the drought brought about by the prophet Elijah. How can we understand these events as a revelation of God’s compassion?
Unlike miracle workers who are not from the side of holiness, like Balaam the wicked and his ilk, the righteous bring about salvation through prayer, called "rachamei" [compassion] in Aramaic or through Torah, which corresponds to the sefirah of “beauty” (tiferet), whose inner dimension is compassion. Therefore, within the judgment itself, a sweetening is concealed; sometimes it is more revealed, and sometimes less so. The Midrash relates that when Joshua stopped the sun in the sky, saying to it, “Sun, stand still upon Gibeon,” the sun came to him with a complaint: “Who will sing my song to God while I am silent?”
