A letter from "Binyomin Hatzaddik, " the son of the Baal HaPischei Teshuvah, to the Gaon HaAdir, Rav Yosef Zechariah Stern, Av Beis Din of Shavel – 16 Tammuz 5652.
A wondrous letter, entirely handwritten by the holy gaon "Binyomin Hatzaddik, "
Rav Binyomin Eisenstadt, Av Beis Din of Utian and the son of the Baal
HaPischei Teshuvah, addressed to the Gaon HaAdir, Rav Yosef Zechariah Stern, Av Beis Din of Shavel – 16 Tammuz 5652.
In this letter, Rav Binyomin recommends a certain shochet u’bodek as a fitting candidate to serve as the city’s shochet u’bodek in Shavel. Rav Binyomin addresses the Gaon of Shavel with remarkable deference, extolling him with praises and words of honor.
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The writer, "Binyomin Hatzaddik, " the holy gaon Rav Binyomin Eisenstadt, Av Beis Din of Utian, and Baal Masas Binyomin (5606–5680), was a saintly tzaddik, an outstanding gaon and posek renowned throughout Lita. From his earliest youth, he was recognized as a towering figure of excellence. He was a tremendous amkan and lamdan, with extraordinary proficiency in all the depths of Choshen Mishpat. When he encountered difficulty in the words of the poskim, he would open the Aron Kodesh and pour out his heart in tefillah, begging Hashem to open his heart in Torah.
After the passing of his father, Rav Meir Tzvi A”sh, the Baal HaPischei Teshuvah, in 5625, he ascended to his father’s rabbinic seat as the Rav of Utian (Lithuania). Many prominent and distinguished cities sought to have him serve as their Rav, but he chose to remain in the legacy of his ancestors.
It is told that when he stood for his hora’ah examination before the Gadol Hador,
Rav Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor, prior to assuming the rabbanus in Utian, his father, the Baal HaPischei Teshuvah, appeared to him in a dream the night before and told him:
"My son, do not fear. You shall sit on my seat after me. Open your mouth, and your words shall illuminate. I will always stand at your right side, and I have already advocated for you favorably before the Sar HaTorah."
His chiddushim were printed in Masas Binyomin (Vilna, 5685) on various masechtos of Shas.
The recipient of the letter, the
Gaon HaAdir, Rav Yosef Zechariah Stern (5591–5664), was among the greatest geonim of Lita, the son of the gaon Rav Nosson Charif Stern, Rav in Radzimino. Already in his youth, he was recognized as an exceptional gaon. At the young age of twenty, he was appointed as Raavad in Yasinkova, and a decade later, he ascended to the rabbanus of the city of Shavel. He rendered halachic rulings to thousands, disseminating the word of Hashem in Torah and psak, and was among the leading poskim and meishivim of his generation. He waged an intense battle against the Haskalah movement but otherwise refrained from engaging in public affairs. His teshuvos were published in Shu”t Zecher Yehosef.
Letters from "Binyomin Hatzaddik" are exceedingly rare!
"I have personally known the gaon, Moreinu Harav Binyomin, ztz”l, as a gavra rabba and a treasury overflowing with Torah and middos, a tzaddik tamim in the very image of his ancestors, the great geonim of the land, scions of the aged and the mighty princes of Torah…" (Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzenski in his haskamah)
