In 1903 the Ridbaz decided to act on his dream of moving to Eretz Yisrael and opening a yeshivah in Tzfas
Title: “The Exclusive Ridbaz Book Sale”
Location: New York City
Document: The American Hebrew
Time: 1901
R
av Yaakov Dovid Wilovsky, known as the Ridbaz, led an illustrious rabbinic career. As the rav of Slutzk, in 1897 he invited the Alter of Slabodka to establish a yeshivah in the town; the Alter sent him a group headed by Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer, and the Slutzk yeshivah was born.
The Ridbaz also invested years of effort in authoring an extensive commentary on the Talmud Yerushalmi; he traveled to America in 1900 to raise funds for completing its publication, returning to Europe soon thereafter.
In 1903 the Ridbaz decided to act on his dream of moving to Eretz Yisrael and opening a yeshivah in Tzfas. In order to finance the plan, he once again traveled to America to sell his seforim. On this trip he was invited to serve as rabbi of Chicago’s immigrant community, on the understanding that the kehillah would eventually pay for his retirement in Eretz Yisrael.
Struggles arising from the low standard of Yiddishkeit and internal community politics led to his departure from Chicago less than a year later, in the summer of 1904. He traveled the United States selling the remaining sets of his Yerushalmi, and then settled down in Tzfas in 1905.
Did You Know
Prior to leaving the United States, the Ridbaz delivered a fiery speech at the Pike Street Shul on the Lower East Side, decrying the lack of Torah education and begging his audience to open yeshivos to ensure a Jewish future for their youth.
Almost a half century later, a yeshivah was founded that was to revolutionize Torah education on these shores: Beth Medrash Govoha, headed by Rav Aharon Kotler. In a great historical twist, Rav Aharon had previously been head of the yeshivah in Kletzk, following its transfer from its original home in Slutzk — the very yeshivah founded there at the Ridbaz’s behest so many years before.
Did You Know
The Ridbaz’s travels weren’t limited to the United States. When he was in London in 1910, he administered a semichah exam to the young Rabbi Yitzchak HaLevi Herzog, who only merited ordination after a grueling seven-day ordeal. When the Telsher rosh yeshivah Rav Leizer Gordon perished in England that year of a sudden heart attack during a fundraising tour, the Ridbaz was one of the main speakers at the London funeral.
