A Wonderous Passing

A description of the passing and the funeral of Rabbi Meir Shapira of Lublin z”l

Upon 90 years since his passing

By: Rabbi David Avraham Mandelbaum, son of the Rebbe, Rabbi Bentzion Moshe Meir z”l, who was a student of the Chachmei Lublin yeshiva

Rabbi Meir Shapira z”l presided over the two largest events that took place in Poland between the two world wars: the cornerstone laying for the Chachmei Lublin yeshiva on Lag BaOmer 5683 (1922), and the inauguration of the yeshiva on 28 Sivan 5690 (1930). The were events in which many thousands of Jews participated, and were led by the Gerrer Rebbe, known as the Imrei Emet, and the Chortkower Rebbe. All of Polish Jewry rejoiced at the great honour of the Torah that was revealed there.

Hundreds of participants at the cornerstone laying ceremony for the Chachmei Lublin yeshiva

And at the same time, Rabbi Shapira was the initiator and founder of the study framework of the daf yomi (studying a page a day of Gemara), in the first Great Congress of Agudath Israel, whose study began in the year 5684 (1923), and then spread on a huge scale to all corners of the world, and all of this is attributed to the rabbi, may G-d bless him and grant him peace – he was only 46 years old when he passed away.

Rabbi Shapira was able to raise the enormous funds that the construction of the great yeshiva cost, amid many difficult hardships, but for its day-to-day maintenance, the rabbi z”l, was not able to live for.

And starting at the beginning of the year 5692 (1931), the situation got worse and worse. The yeshiva faced a huge debt, and Rabbi Shapira felt completely helpless. Even he, who was by nature an optimistic person, full of joy, who was always happy for everyone around him, could not withstand the day-to-day pressure which grew stronger.

The Lodz Rabbinate

In the same period, at the beginning of the month of Cheshvan 5693 (1932), an appeal came to Rabbi Shapira for the first time on behalf of the heads of the community of Lodz. They asked him to take upon himself the crown of the rabbinate of the great city that served G-d, the city of Lodz.

To give the background to the matter, we will begin by stating that the great city of Lodz, where more than a quarter of a million Jews lived at the time, was an industrial city, and great men of all circles lived there. But for some reason, since the passing of the genius Rabbi Eliyahu Chaim Meisel z”l, who proudly served as the city’s rabbi for about forty years, on the 14th of Iyar 5672 (1912), the people of the city were unable to reach an agreement regarding a replacement rabbi. The space that was opened was huge, the city’s Jews were lacking an authoritative rabbinic personality to fill the great space.

Instead of this, a “Vaad HaRabanim” (council of rabbis) was established in the city, which included about twenty rabbis, wise men, and Torah and Halacha (Jewish law) scholars from all circles, but there was no general rabbi and head of the beit din (religious court).

The great synagogue in Lodz

When the suggestion first arrived on Rabbi Shapira’s table, he rejected it with a big smile. When asked the reason for the rejection, and why the rabbinate of Lodz is not pleasing to him, Rabbi Shapira replied with a parable: “One young man was offered a match with a daughter of a distinguished family; she had great character trains, and in addition – a large dowry. However, the young man rejected the offer. When he was asked the reason for his rejection, he replied: ‘Although everything is fine, I actually am already married’ and the parable is of course similar to the current situation. Lodz is indeed a great city and has great virtues, but what can I do? I am already connected with Lublin, through the yeshiva…”

But the energetic businessmen of the city of Lodz did not give up; they tried again and again to influence Rabbi Shapira to cast his great glory on the community, knowing full well that Jewish life in the city of Lodz would receive a tremendous boost if the city was headed by a rabbi of the same stature as Rabbi Shapira.

When the businessmen of the city found out about the terrible financial situation in which the yeshiva was in, they submitted an amazing offer to the rabbi. The offer included unbelievable conditions, the first clause of which was to cover all the debts of the yeshiva, which at the time amounted to a sum of 30,000 dollars at the time, with a huge monthly salary, from which the rabbi could set aside for expenses. Along with this, the Lodz community agreed that the rabbi would be able to stay within the yeshiva walls in Lublin with his beloved students for one week each month.

Rabbi Shapira had many concerns; it was difficult for him to come to terms with a situation in which he would leave the city of Lublin, which he loved very much, and to leave his students for whom living with was like oxygen for him.

Rabbi Meir Shapira (centre) at a reception for him at the train station in Lublin

Rabbi Shapira wrote in a note in those days:

“The truth can be said that every time I come home and the sound of the Torah surrounds me from all sides, the longings multiply and I will not know the possibility within me of leaving the walls of the yeshiva right now. When the day comes when the bills are due and I have to take the walking stick in my hand and go, an idea of Lodz comes again and pricks my mind.”

Based on the testimony of Rabbi Shapira’s student, the genius Rabbi Moshe Yoel Lebel z”l who accompanied Rabbi Shapira on his trip to Gur to see the Imrei Emet, the Gerrer Rebbe, Rabbi Shapira raised his concerns on the matter with the Rebbe. After all it “is preferable to sit and not do it”…The Rebbe added words that proved to be a prophecy: “We will see what will develop in another year.”

It should be noted what the chassid Rabbi Yair Schwartzman z”l brought forth in his book Yehi Or (pg. 273) that he himself was present in the sermon delivered by Rabbi Shapira to the members of the community during his visit to Lodz, for the purpose of raising funds for the yeshiva. Rabbi Shapira told that he dreamed that a Jew came to him and told him that he was ready to eliminate all the yeshiva’s debts, on the condition that he would sell him his share in the next world, and Rabbi Shapira agreed in his dream to this condition, when he added the condition, that the part of the debt owed to him for this good deed of selling his share in the next world for the benefit of the yeshiva, will remain with him…

This story illustrated to all who heard it how engrossed Rabbi Shapira was in the yeshiva’s situation even while he was asleep.

It should be noted that in the yeshiva in Lublin there was a room that was donated by the Jews of Lodz, and Jews from Lodz slept in this room (according to the testimony of a student of the yeshiva, the chassid Rabbi Yehuda Meir Abramowitz z”l in the book Ish Chai Rav Paa’lim pg. 66-7)

Additional Events

The aforementioned rabbinical proposal reached Rabbi Shapira, as mentioned, in the month of Cheshvan 5693 (1932). At that time, Rabbi Shapira arranged life insurance in his name at a well-known firm in Poland for $30,000. That was a huge sum at the time, and it was the same amount that the yeshiva owed.

At the same time, Rabbi Shapira began to talk with his closest students about going to the Land of Israel, and as described by his close student Tuvia Breitman, may G-d avenge his blood (Tagblat newspaper, 13 Kislev 5694/Dec. 1, 1933) that from the beginning of the year 5693, there was not a single day that Rabbi Shapira did not speak about the Land of Israel and its merits. He would describe to his students his enormous desire to nurture its land, with his ambition to re-establish the Chachmei Lublin yeshiva in the city of Safed or Tiberias, the seat and burial place of his rabbi, the holy Rabbi Yaakov Shimshon of Shepetowka z”l. The aforementioned student said in his article that Rabbi Shapira received a letter from strictly Orthodox businessmen in Israel, who informed him that they would assist him in establishing a Chachmei Lublin yeshiva in the Land of Israel

*  *  *

From the 3rd of Shvat 5693 (Jan. 30, 1933), the day the oppressor, Hitler, came to power in Germany, a gloom fell over the face of Rabbi Shapira z”l. In his eagle eyes, the rabbi felt and sensed the danger hovering over the entire Jewish People, and a veil of gloom surrounded him since that moment. He walked in his room for hours back and forth, silent and in thought, in pain and aching.

On Purim, Rabbi Shapira did not permit drinking a lot, as was normally done, and everyone clearly saw that the rabbi’s thoughts were in a different place.

In the midst of all this noisy raging sea, those around Rabbi Shapira noticed, that he was a within himself a lot, and he looked unusually pained and tormented. The financial situation in the yeshiva kept getting worse, the creditors pressed and pushed, and the situation was very bad.

In a letter dated Tammuz 17, 5693 (July 11, 1933) to his friend, the Ozrower Rebbe z”l, known as the Be’er Moshe, Rabbi Shapira wrote:

“How sad his pure soul will be, the situation is very chaotic, we are fluttering between existence and non-existence, G-d forbid, and we have no saviour…”

The death of the Chafetz Chaim rabbi z”l on Elul 24, 5693 (Sept. 15, 1933), which shocked the entire Jewish world, also added a lot to the horrible feeling that hung in the air, and all the yeshiva students remembered very well the shocking eulogy of Rabbi Shapira z”l in the yeshiva hall, when he opened his words with a terrible sobbing voice:

“The prophet, Ezekiel (21:31) said ‘So said the Lord God: I shall remove the turban and lift off the crown,’ and the sages explained – what does a turban have to do with a crown? It is that when the high priest where’s his turban, a crown is placed on the head of every person. But when the turban is taken off from the head of the high priect, there is no crown on every person’s head.”

Here Rabbi Shapira raised his voice in cries and screamed:

“Our rabbi, the Chafetz Chaim is no longer with us, the high priest’s turban has been taken from us, and we are left without any crown for our heads, the glory has been exiled from the Jewish People because the ark of God has been taken… (Samuel I 4:21)”

The Revived Proposal

In the last month of Rabbi Shapira’s life, while he was talking to his students and close associates about his plans to immigrate to the Land of Israel, the offer of the rabbinate in the city of Lodz arose again.

And it was told by his disciple, the Strykower Rebbe z”l (Davrut Kodesh, Passover 5783/2023):

It was during the time when Rabbi Shapira was in Lodz, as part of his travels on behalf of the yeshiva. And he stayed that Shabbat at the house of the president of the community in Lodz, who was a Strykow chassid.

And on the same Shabbat, on Saturday night, the old Rebbe of Strykow called his son, Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak Dan Landau, may G-d avenge his blood, to act on his behalf, and ordered him to go to Lodz to the house of the president of the community and tell Rabbi Shapira that he would not agree to the offer to take the crown of the rabbinate in Lodz.

And Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak Dan Landau left immediately upon Shabbat’s end to Lodz, and told that this was the only time that he had to wear weekday clothes on Saturday night because of the trip, and when he arrived in Lodz he went to the house of the president of the community and met Rabbi Shapira while he was at a meeting of businessmen regarding the needs of the yeshiva. Rabbi Landau told him that he had a message from the Rebbe that he should not accept the yoke of the rabbinate in Lodz.

And Rabbi Shapira replied to him, saying “what shall I do in this situation, after all, in this matter there is a decision of both the individual and many people, whereas against the words of our Rebbe, who is an individual, there are many, who are members of the Lodz community, as well as the needs of the Chachmei Lublin yeshiva…”

*  *  *

The month of Tishrei in 5694 (1933) also passed, when the sharp-eyed among the disciples who were close to Rabbi Shapira, noticed on many occasions various and unusual behaviors on Rabbi Shapira, which greatly disturbed their rest and peace of mind, but of course they did not think anything serious of it and no real concern came to their minds and thoughts.

The yeshiva student, the genius Rabbi Yisrael Avraham Stein z”l (the head of the bein din, the religious court, of Poltishan) told in his book Ish Al Ha’Eda (pg. 59) that at that time, at a meal with the students, Rabbi Shapira spoke about the matter of joy, and said: “Is it appropriate that at the great and special moment of the soul’s attachment and its return to its source from its quarry to the Creator of the world, we should be sad and sigh? Shouldn’t we return the soul solemnly by drinking to life and with music, and in the service of God with joy and kindness?…”

The students heard this and did not understand…

Rabbi Shapira’s cousin, Rabbi Pinchas Halevi Heller-Bakenroth, who was at the yeshiva at the time, recounted in his memoirs that a short time before, his grandfather, Rabbi Avraham Yosef Bakenroth, who was the uncle of Rabbi Shapira, passed away, and when Rabbi Pinchas tried to show Rabbi Shapira the section of the newspaper in which the passing was written about, Rabbi Shapira refused to see the newspaper and this was incomprehensible at the time, probably because he saw his own fate…

And then on Sunday, the 2 Cheshvan 5694 (Oct. 22, 1933), a distinguished delegation of businessmen from the heads of the community of Lodz, led by the head of the community, Rabbi Leibel Mintzberg and his deputy, Rabbi Hanoch Henich Berger, came to the yeshiva building to submit a letter to Rabbi Shapira, crowning him as the rabbi of Lodz, subject to the conditions attached to the document.

Amazingly, in a miraculous and clearly with heavenly timing, on that Sunday, Rabbi Shapira began to study a lesson in his private room with a group of the students close to him; the lesson began every day at 4:30 in the morning, and included learning the mishnas from Tractate Pe’ah with the commentaries of the Rishonim.

Rabbi Shapira said to his students:

“How will we travel to bless the Holy Land without first learning the laws that only can be upheld there…”

Rabbi Shapira was the first to sit by the books and wait for the students, and studied with them with wonderful pleasantness and delved into the mishnas with teh commentaries of the Rishonim. That’s how they learned on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, and ended at the end of chapter 4 and ended with the words of Rabbi Meir saying “it all belongs to the poor, for gleanings about which there is any doubt are regarded as gleanings.” And Rabbi Shapira ended with the words of the Rambam (Maimonides) who ruled: the halacha (Jewish law) is mandated by Rabbi Meir.

On Wednesday, when the students arrived to their rabbi’s room, the door was closed.

One of the close disciples approached our rabbi’s residence and knocked on the door. To his question the rebbetzin (rabbi’s wife) replied that Rabbi Shapira was not feeling well; at night he felt chills and the thermometer indicated a significant increase in temperature, apparently a common cold.

He entered the rabbi’s room and was amazed to see him lying down, his face drooping and his spirit low.

And in the meantime, the city of Lublin was bubbling, although the businessmen and leaders of the Lublin community had long known that there were negotiations with the Lodz community, but now, when they saw the delegation of the Lodz community leaders, they realized that the matter was more serious than they thought. The leaders of the Lublin community gathered in a panic amid a terrible storm of spirits; their hearts were horrified by the thought that Rabbi Shapira would abandon the rabbinical seat in their city in favor of another congregation, and they decided to make an emergency appeal in their city, to help Rabbi Shapira and the yeshiva and to make the Lodz proposal drop from the table.

The leaders of the Lublin community prepared a detailed proposal in writing, in which they presented to Rabbi Shapira the possibilities of support and help that would be made available to the yeshiva to improve its financial situation, provided that he would not leave Lublin.

Rabbi Shapira, sitting on a carriage, accompanied by students

Rabbi Shapira’s friend and close associate, Rabbi Shmuel Eichenbaum, was rushed to the rabbi’s house to present the counter proposal and talk about his desire for Rabbi Shapira to stay in Lublin.

Rabbi Shmuel hastened to do so by adding: “It does not sound like this, no rabbi from Lublin ever moved to serve in another city in Poland but only to Jerusalem, such as the Torat Chessed rabbi from Lublin or Rabbi Eliyahu Klatzkin, and how will our rabbi leave for the congregation of Lodz?!”

Rabbi Shapira heard the words and smiled and reassured Rabbi Shmuel by saying: “When things settle down, we will repay the debts and the situation in the yeshiva will stabilize, I will return from ‘exile’ in Lodz, and I will be only yours…”

But all this was until Wednesday morning, but from that point, things began to unfold at an uncontrollable and clearly incomprehensible pace.

From the outside, it seemed to everyone that the whole matter with Rabbi Shapira was just a cold. However, he knew that his soul was bitter and felt that things were very serious, and gathered within himself, and his mood was very depressed.

Rabbi Shapira ordered a Jewish doctor to be called. The doctor came and determined that it was a normal sore throat, prescribed some routine medicine, and left. His diagnosis did not put Rabbi Shapira’s mind at ease, and so to calm his spirit, additional doctors were invited from the city of Lublin, but everyone’s diagnosis was the same – he had a common throat infection.

The students who were standing by his bedside in regular shifts noticed that the situation was serious, their anxiety grew and grew, but the concealment also increased, the students felt and saw how Rabbi Shapira was lying and moaning and fighting for his life, but they did not have the courage to challenge against the doctors who stood their ground and repeated that it was only a mild infection…

On Thursday, Rabbi Shapira no longer had the energy to put on tefillin (phylacteries), so his students put it and his tallis (prayer shawl) on him; he closed his eyes and he was absorbed in his prayer. His lips moved and his voice was not heard; thus he lay immersed in his thoughts for long hours.

During the morning hours, he was visited by the genius of Chebin (Trzebinia) z”l and the spiritual overseer Rabbi Shma’le of Zelichow z”l, both of them left his room shaken to the core, and did not agree to express their feelings in front of the students, even with a single word.

Rabbi Shapira’s cousin, Pinchas HaLevi Heller-Bakenroth z”l told:

“The doctors spoke to each other in Latin, and no one understood what they said, but I understood Latin and listened; for some reason I had the impression that the doctors were not really aware of the nature of his illness. I decided to take the initiative, and I ran to the phone and wanted to call a Polish doctor who lived near the yeshiva. I thought he would know better and diagnose our rabbi’s illness and the appropriate treatment accordingly, but suddenly the director of the yeshiva, Rabbi Heshel Shetzransky, came from behind and said to me in a loud voice:

‘Did you not hear from our rabbi that he does not agree to be treated by an uncircumsized doctor?'”

Pinchas Heller-Bakenroth z”l finished:

“To this day, I do not forgive myself for giving in and not trying another option to bring the Polish doctor to our rabbi; all the time, it seems to me that I could have saved him, even though the strong belief says that everyone’s days are limited and facts cannot be changed…”

The students closest to Rabbi Shapira began to make noise, and went out to pray at of the graves of the great men of previous generations in Lublin.

Urgent letters were also sent to the great rebbes in Poland to make them aware of the seriousness of the situation.

His close student, Rabbi Aaron Level, wrote a letter to Rabbi Shapira’s teacher and rabbi, Rabbi Yisrael of Czortkow z”l, and in it he described the gravity of Rabbi Shapira’s situation.

He showed the contents of the letter to Rabbi Shapira, but he did not want to cause grief to his rabbi and tore a part off of the postcard as a hint not to send it at all.

His student, Rabbi Yisrael Avraham Stein z”l sent an urgent telegram to Vizhnitz to Rabbi Yisrael of Vizhnitz, and as testified by the chassid Rabbi Menachem Mendel Shnelberg in the book Siach Zekenim (Vol. 5, pg. 131) the telegram reached Vizhnitz in the middle of the preparation of the table, and it was given to the Vizhniter Rebbe. He looked at it and didn’t respond…

In the evening, Rabbi Shapira had difficulty praying by himself, and he asked a number of boys to enter his room to pray out loud so that he could fulfill the mitzvah. It clearly seemed that his agony was unbearable, but he lay still and only his face was illuminated.

In the middle of the night, the elderly Rabbi Rafael Feldsher of Lublin was called to make steam in our rabbi’s room, the steam eased his breathing a little, and Rabbi Shapira asked for a cup of tea and drank it.

The rebbetzin came in and seeing that his condition had improved a little, she tried to encourage him and said:

“Well, on Shabbat I hope that you will recover completely and we will have a happy Shabbat.”

“Yes,” Rabbi Shapira replied, “on Shabbat we will have real joy…”

According to Rabbi Shapira’s request, his bed was moved from his private apartment to the large guest room that was next to the study hall; around the bed stood his close disciples, crying and anxious, while their rabbi lay down and his face shone.

Suddenly our Rabbi wrote on a note in broken handwriting:

“Everyone, please drink a l’chaim.”

In the blink of an eye, glasses of brandy were brought. The young men took a sip of the drink that was mixed with their flowing tears. And thus they went one by one to his bed; Rabbi Shapira reached out and affectionately and warmly shook the hands of each and every student and looked at each one with eyes full of love.

According to Rabbi Binyamin Mintz z”l in the Meir B’Ahava booklet:

“There was a simple Jew standing there who always sold cakes and eggs and the like to the students and he was standing on the side. He did not have the courage to approach Rabbi Meir and bless him with a l’chaim. Rabbi Meir fixed his eyes on him with great pity, hinted to him to approach him, took his hand in his holy hand and held it for five minutes.”

And Rabbi Binyamin z”l finished:

“Who knows what intentions Rabbi Shapira had with this in his last moments of his life. Who knows what thoughts passed through his holy mind then, because his thoughts were higher than our thoughts.”

When he finished, he asked them to start singing “In You our ancestors trusted” in a tune that he had composed.

In the middle of the song he hinted that they should dance around his bed in a circle, adding in writing “only with joy.” The students danced, with tears flowing from their eyes, danced and cried, danced and cried. The feeling was strange, a mixture of Yom Kippur night and the night of a holiday, a supreme atmosphere of a judgement day together with a joy that rises and rises. In the middle of this lay Rabbi Shapira, his eyes shining and his face beaming like the face of an angel, and from time to time he encouraged the singing and dancing with hand movements as he used to do in all times of happiness.

The dancing stopped. Rabbi Shapira lay calmly in his bed.

Next to Rabbi Shapira, only his close student, Rabbi David Weisbrod-Halachmi z”l was standing at this point, and Rabbi Shapira held his hand very tightly.

Suddenly, at about 3:15, the student saw that beads of cold sweat were covering the rabbi, his grip loosened and his hand dropped.

He let out a terrible scream:

“Der Rebbe iz nishtu!” (The rabbi is not here)

The students who were sitting in the next room heard the scream and quickly came.

This was already after his soul left him…

At that time, the yeshiva hall was completely full with students weeping and chanting, with books of Psalms their hands, as they urged Heaven to cancel the decree.

Suddenly, the director of the yeshiva, Rabbi Heshel Shetzransky, entered the study hall and in a trembling voice screamed:

“Say Baruch Dayan Ha’Emet…” (Blessed be the true Judge)

All the students immediately fell to the ground, tore their clothes, banged their heads against the wall, and their cries rose to the heart of the sky. Cries of terror pierced the space, “why?… why?…” The sound of the wails filled the entire huge building that Rabbi Shapira erected and founded with the essence of his heart until its last touches. The walls wept like water, and the whole yeshiva turned into a valley of tears…

The crying continued for a long time until the fountain of tears dried up, and so everyone lay on the floor half passed out with their eyes staring into the air. Suddenly Rabbi Shlomo Eiger, Rabbi Shapira ‘s faithful friend, came to the yeshiva. When he saw his colleague and friend lying on the ground covered with a sheet, he burst into tears like a small child, and with him, the students began to weep and wail again.

In the meantime, candles were placed on the ground and the students stood with books of Psalms and Mishna. They read and learned chapters of Mishna and read and cried and read and cried, until the morning dawned.

Like a thunderbolt on a clear day, the terrible news of Rabbi Shapira’s passing hit Lublin; no one could imagine nor believe it. A young man like him… barely reached the age of forty-seven… left the world…

A new morning dawned on the weeping and bereaved Lublin, the town’s residents who were heartbroken and did not believe the bitter news that from now on the sun would continue to shine in the skies of Lublin without the “illuminating light”… a morning of mourning and orphanhood…

Writer Rabbi Yechiel Gerentstein z”l of Lublin wrote:

“The whole city was in mourning. Jews stood up in panic when they heard the bitter news. From all the streets, from all the alleys, they rushed to the yeshiva. In my mind, I see Jews banging their heads against the walls of houses and howling like children.”

“And the city of Lublin was crying.”

“And its Jews walk around resenting themselves. How did we let this light go out so quickly? So suddenly? Why didn’t the world make noise when they learned that the rabbi was sick? Why didn’t they shake the seven heavens with prayers and supplications?”

“A bitter Friday.”

The news began to spread all over Poland. The first reaction was a complete lack of belief; no one could believe what they heard. How it was possible that a young man for those days, whose years of life barely reached the age of forty-seven, and whose foreign resounding voice had just given birth to youth in the hearts of many Jews, left the world so suddenly, while in full force and in full bloom. “It’s simply not possible!” – each said to his brother – “This is most likely an unauthorized piece of information given by an irresponsible person”… No one wanted or was able to believe this bitter and terrible news.

But slowly the bitter news was received; the management of the yeshiva announced, with poignant sorrow, the terrible disaster to all the newspapers. The Polish radio from Warsaw broadcast about it at the top of the newscasts. Telephone calls began to arrive from all corners of the world to verify the truth of the rumour; when the news was confirmed, cries of grief were heard from the other end of the phone.

But a heavy burden fell on the Jews of Poland and worldwide Jewry. Millions of hearts contracted with pain, both stricly-Orthodox and those who were not cried in the streets like babies, as he was like a father to everyone… People from Lublin remembered how the gentiles who lived around the yeshiva cried like children, it was an unbelievable sight.

In all parts of Poland, special newspaper editions were printed detailing the stories of Rabbi Shapira’s life and his many actions for the public and individuals.

To give today’s reader an image of the suddenness of the news, we will present here that in issue of the Tagblat newspaper of Lublin, dated Friday, the Shabbat eve of the weekly Torah portion of Lech Lecha, 7 Cheshvan 5694 (Oct. 27, 1933), the main headline was changed in the middle of the night to large black letters announcing the passing of the rabbi, as after all, on the inside pages there were entire articles discussing the visit of the delegation from Lodz and the rabbinate document that they brought with for Rabbi Shapira, and the headline screams “It is not possible for the rabbi to go to Lodz” (from “Otzer Ha’Itonut” of the Morgenstern-Ashdod program).

According to the ruling of the chassidic Torah scholars, the funeral did not take place on Friday, but on the following Sunday, in order to allow the participation of the general public. All preparations were being made for the funeral, and the yeshiva was preparing to receive the first Shabbat without the rabbi.

The bitter news was spreading

Rabbi Aharon Noach Belzbeleg z”l said:

“I remember my father Rabbi Binyamin Ze’ev z”l during his days of mourning for his mother. I remember his mourning for his teacher, the Chafetz Chaim. However, these were not like the mountains of heavy mourning that fell upon our home when we received the bitter news of the death of the Rabbi from Lublin z”l. For two whole days, my father did not stop crying and crying, and for about two days he did not leave the house at all. In his eyes it seemed as if the world had been destroyed. My father z”l was not one of the students of the Rabbi of Lublin z”l, but a community member, who since the first time he saw the rabbi, became attached to him in heart and soul, until he was unable to understand how the world of Torah and Judaism would exist after the death of Rabbi Shapira z”l.”

The well-known businessman, the yeshiva student, Rabbi Yosef Friedenson told in his memoirs:

“This is etched in my memory to this day. It was on a Friday, just after 6 AM. My father (Rabbi Eliezer Gershon, may G-d avenge his blood, one of the most important businessmen in Lodz) had not yet woken up to go to the morning prayer in the shtiebel, as he was always used to. The previous day he fainted and fell powerless, although he was only 33 years old at the time, and they barely woke him up. The doctor who came to visit him did not diagnose anything, but ordered him to sleep longer and not to try to get up. I, who was before bar mitzvah age, was sitting in my father z”l’s study, and suddenly the silence was broken by the ringing of the phone. My father got up from his bed in a second, being accompanied by some hidden feeling of fear, immediately picked up the phone and when he had barely caught anything (from the other end), broke down crying and shouted: ‘No, no!’ For nearly an hour, he did not stop crying, opening his hands in grief. Finally, when my mother stood before him with a pale face, he told her: The rabbi of Lublin, Rabbi Meir Shapira, had passed away. My mother said later that she had never seen him cry so much even when his mother died, a few years before, when she was still in her prime and had left behind a house with small children.”

And the student of the yeshiva, the Rebbe of Strykow, who was in Lodz that Friday, for a family celebration, said that he remembered that Friday, when the news reached Lodz, which is near Zagerz, which was the city that had received the Rabbi Shapira as the rabbi, and had already begun preparations for a magnificent reception, that the mourning and crying was great. And it was revealed that this was “a Shvartza Shabbat” (a black Shabbat) for the residents of Lodz, who many days later still were not consoled over the passing of the rabbi z”l.

Grief and pain surrounded affected all of the people, best expressed by the cart owner from Lublin who met the strictly-Orthodox writer Rabbi Moshe Prager z”l when he hurried to come to Lublin. When he heard from him about the disaster – Rabbi Moshe described – “he jumped up from his place like a snake bitten and shouted: ‘Listen Jews, I have only seen the rabbi of Lublin twice. Once when he was going to the train station in a carriage and a second time when he was wearing a streimel (chassidic fur hat) and was going to the synagogue of the Maharshal rabbi, the Shechina (G-d’s presence) was hanging over his face.'”

“I tell you Jews, I am the father of seven children – seven chicks, if they say to me: ‘May the rabbi’s atonement be’ – I would lay myself down on the ground, provided that our holy Rebbe lives, as I am a Jew, believe me!”

The letter of the great Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski z”l

In the newspapers of the period (Tagblat” – 13 Kislev 5694/Dec. 1, 1933) the moving letter of the genius of the generation, Rabbi Chaim Ozer from Vilna, who wrote from his heart, was printed, and these are his words:

“I was very shocked at the sudden bad news that I received in a telegram about the great fire that G-d burned with the departure of the genius Rabbi Meir Shapira; while the dead man was laid before us, it was not understood that a living and active man like him, by the power of his great energy, left the yeshiva with his life’s blood, the desire of his soul, and his spiritual life.”

“There are no words in my mouth to comfort the students of the yeshiva and the important community, the light was extinguished and gathered as the sun at noon. I have no words to describe the great loss that was lost to the Jewish People in general and to the congregation of Lublin and to the yeshiva in particular. Who will fill his place? A great rabbi and a genius like him.”

“And with a torn and broken heart, I participare in their grief and sorrow.”

“Written in tears, Friday, 7 Cheshvan 5694 (Oct. 27, 1933).”

“The week of the holy Shabbat when the Torah portion of Lech Lecha is read.”

“The Shabbat of the week of the Torah portion of “Go from your country, from your homeland and from your father’s house” spread its wings over the orphaned Lublin, which washes and wipes away its tears in honor of the Shabbat Queen.”

The yeshiva students’ thoughts ran wild and confused, the very idea was frightening. The Shabbat table in the yeshiva, which had been held up to now all these years with great joy and spiritual exaltation that could be found elsewhere, was to be held without the rabbi. No! The students could not accept this thought…

The sun was slowly setting. The students changed their clothes into Shabbat clothes and went to prayers as usual. Due to the sanctity of Shabbat, mourning was pushed to the corner. The rebbetzin’s behavior was especially brave and chivalrous. She covered the well of her tears, put on Shabbat clothes, and went into the kitchen to watch over the cooks who would take care of the orderly meals of the students who had fasted all day, and went in to light Shabbat candles in the room where the holy body of her great husband lay. After the lighting, she approached the deceased and said:

“Holy Rabbi! I always hoped that I would leave the world before you, because what is the value of my whole life compared to just one day of your life… But it happened differently. Providence wanted it this way. I therefore ask you, Rabbi, please make an effort so that the Torah kingdom you created will continue to exist, G-d forbid you won’t stop and won’t be interrupted. And that will be my only consolation…”

The crying students also shook off their grief. Rabbi Shapira’s last will of “only with joy” echoed in space! How difficult it was, but “only with joy!” Change your clothes and stand in the study hall.

The spiritual overseer Rabbi Shma’le of Zelichow z”l entered the great study hall, turned to Rabbi Moshe David Weitzman z”l who had come to Lublin together with his father, Rabbi Betzalel the author of the wonderful book Shalom Rav, who Rabbi Shapira z”l brought to Piotrkow to serve as the head of the ritual slaughterers.

And he said to him:

“We are here, we are all in mourning and we cannot pray in front of the prayer stand, please go and pray for Shabbat reception in front of the stand…” (from his grandson Rabbi Meir Yosef who heard it from his grandfather).

A student speaks at the funeral of Rabbi Meir Shapira.

After the prayer that took place in a Kol Nidrei (the opening prayer of Yom Kippur) like atmosphere, all of the students of the yeshiva entered in a long line into the large guest room, where the body of the rabbi was lying wrapped in a blanket with two tall lit candles in front of him. They passed in front of him saying to him with tears flowing from their eyes for the last time: “Gutt Shabbes (have a good Shabbat), Rebbe…”

Who is the poet who will give expression to that shocking situation and the surroundings of eternal sorrow?

Rabbi Shapira’s student, Rabbi Yitzchak Flexer z”l, when he described this scene, would say that if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have believed anyone who had told him such a thing, and this scene had a thousand witnesses to the unimaginable attachment of the students to their beloved rabbi.

From there, the grieving students headed to the room where rebbetzin’s lived – the mother of the kingdom, who was sitting at the arranged Shabbat table with lit candles in front of her, the pain and sorrow sealed in her heart like a fire extinguisher, a silent cry hanging in the air, but the rebbetzin overcame herself and blessed them with a happy face with the blessing of a good Shabbat.

The Shabbat tables were set, the rebbetzin, herself, supervised the distribution of the food to the students, exactly like on every Shabbat. They sang Shabbat songs… But alas, what songs they were… The mouth indeed sang, but the heart cried, cried. Every pleasantness drowned in a sea of tears that flowed from the eyes and wet the face. It is enough just to glance at the place where the rabbi’s presence had always shone, and now, alas, we wanted to forget, to ignore – after all, it was Shabbat! But how one you forget even for a moment?! The students whisper among themselves how Rabbi Shapira did not want to leave Lublin. Indeed, he would forever remain in the Jewish People’s consciousness as the second Rabbi Meir of Lublin…

The students were divided into shifts. Every hour a different shift learned chapters of Mishna in the room where the body of the holy rabbi lay.

The many participants at the funeral of Rabbi Meir Shapira

This is how Shabbat passed, in an atmosphere like Tisha B’av (anniversary of the destruction of both the 1st and 2nd Temples) for the students of the yeshiva, who were connected to their rabbi in heart and soul and could not contain everything that was happening around them.

Saturday night after the holy Shabbat…

Saturday night, after the holy Shabbat of the week when the Torah portion of Lech Lecha is read, the huge candles, which were lit in the study hall and in the corridors of the yeshiva for twenty-four hours, were beginning to fade. The stars begin to twinkle across the sky. The maariv prayer was recited, and the waves of grief, which were relegated to the corner due to the sanctity of the Sabbath, broke through again and swept everything away with them. Once again the yeshiva wore a veil of mourning. Groups of Lublin Jews begin to arrive at the yeshiva. The feeling was heavy and horrible; the yeshiva corridors were crowded with students and friends flocking in droves to the building. In every corner stood students, dignitaries of the community, and people from the Jewish nation bitterly crying without respite.

The crying engulfed everyone; the whole city mourned, from young to old, all parties and factions. Everyone was broken and torn from the great disaster, and everyone showed up to say goodbye to Rabbi Shapira and to give him the last honour.

And meanwhile the roads of Poland were mourning, with the end of the Sabbath thousands and thousands of Jews made their way to Lublin. The Railway Authority set up special trains for the multitudes of Jews flocking to Lublin to pay “the leader of his people” his last respects.

In Lodz too, a special loaded train was organized to go to the funeral. The strictly-Orthodox of Lodz were shocked when they heard the bitter news; they had just begun to deal with the gates of honour and the festive signs in preparation for welcoming the rabbi when he would arrive to serve as a leader in their city, and here now they had to go out and accompany him on his last journey.

All roads lead to Lublin. No one can help but recall previous occasions when these ways were overwhelming. It was in the days leading up to the times of rejoicing for the laying of the cornerstone, for the dedication of the yeshiva, for the Siyum HaShas (party for completion of studying the Mishna) in the form of the daf yomi. But, then everyone knew that there they would soon have the privilege of witnessing the light of Rabbi Shapira’s face and listening to his uplifting and heartwarming voice, and now the “man of joy” himself was gone, and everyone gathered around him and came to pay tribute to him and mourn him.

The yeshiva building was filled up to capacity, rabbis and high profile people were walking here and there in the long corridors – broken and shocked, opening their hands in grief and sadness – how could such a thing happen? Why didn’t they call the whole world?

Crowds were pouring in from all corners of Poland, who were shocked at hearing the bitter news, and everyone felt a sacred duty to be present there and pay their last respects to the rabbi.

The Funeral

The time of the tahara (purification of the body) came closer. It was decided to dip Rabbi Shapira’s body in the yeshiva’s mikvah (ritual bath). Before that, all the students immersed there. According to the ruling of the special court set up for that purpose, it was determined that only they were allowed to carry the coffin of Rabbi Shapira. During the purification, heart-wrenching wails were heard outside, and in the midst of this, the words of the Holy Tanna (mishnaic era rabbi) Rabbi Akiva: “Praiseworthy are you Israel, before whom you are purifying, and who is purifying you, your Heavenly Father…”

Only rabbis and students were allowed to dress Rabbi Shapira. As we know, participating in the purification was the Rebbe of Sokolow z”l and the Rebbe of Radzyn z”l, and he was also the one who girded the sash of Rabbi Shapira – the “gartel” (Tiferet Radzyn,” the week of the Torah portion of Lech Lecha, 5778/2017, pg. 14).

Then, when the black-wrapped coffin was carried into the great hall on the shoulders of his students, a sky-splitting howl erupting into the space. All the lights were on, the veil was removed from the Holy Ark and the hall was kneeling under the pressure of the crowds that filled the entire space around the building.

The Torah elders and the students present in the yeshiva hall made laps around the coffin; the laps were held according to Kabbalah, based on the combinations of names and letters from the instruction of the kabbalist, Rabbi Shma’le Zelichower z”l.

So began the series of shocking obituaries.

The first of the eulogists was the spiritual supervisor, Rabbi Shma’le z”l. He opened with the words of the Mishna: “‘On the 7th of Cheshvan, we ask for rain.’ The tzaddik (righteous man) is called rain because he influences blessings and good influences on the world. And here on the 7th of Cheshvan, we ask and they took from us the rain, the tzaddik who influenced us with favour and blessing.”

He burst into heartbreaking tears and finished his words.

After him, Rabbi Pinchas (Pinyeh) of Ostila, the faithful friend of Rabbi Shapira, eulogized his friend in short words.

Rabbi Pinchas of Ostila, whith his son, Rabbi Zev on his left, as they participated in the funeral of Rabbi Meir Shapira. Behind Rabbi Pinyeleh stands the yeshiva student, Yeshoshua Yaless, may G-d avenge his blood. The Jews wearing uniforms are members of Beitar in Lublin who volunteering to be ashers.

But his lips moved and his voice was not heard; he stood next to the coffin, bowing down and speaking to Rabbi Shapira, and seemed to be talking to him, and hot tears fell from his eyes.

Then the genius Rabbi Menachem Ziemba z”l arose to the pulpit to speak on behalf of the Council of Torah Sages, and with tears in his voice he read:

“‘Who is the man who built a new house and did not inaugurate it?’ – the rabbi had not yet had time to properly inaugurate the yeshiva and here came an instruction from God that ‘he will go and return to his house’ – that he should return his soul to the throne of honour, from where it came into the world…”

“Rashi (a medieval religious commentator) said about that verse: ‘And it is a matter of sorrow.’ Do we have a matter of sorrow more than this?”

“The sages said, ‘One of the members of the group who dies, the whole group will take care of him’ (Tractate Shabbat 106). Where can you find such a group, which can take care of fulfilling the same things that the rabbi took care of?”

“It states in the Gemara ‘when a Torah scholar dies, everyone is his relative’ (Shabbat 105b), ‘all of them are his relatives?’ But the Chatam Sofer rabbi wrote- ‘a scholar is a part of the heart of every Jew, and therefore is considered a relative, with whom he has a blood relationship, and these words are said towards every scholar, especially towards Rabbi Shapira, who was imbued with excessive love and devotion to every Jew, surely his departure is considered to every Jew as if a piece of his heart had been removed.'”

“In Rabbi Meir’s Torah the phrase ‘katanut or’ was written with an ayin (translating the word as ‘skin’) instead of with an alef (translating the word to ‘light’) (Midrash Beraishit Rabba 20), and this was also the work of Rabbi Shapira throughout his life, to transform ‘skin’ into ‘light,’ to illuminate the bodies and souls with Torah even down to the lower stratum of Jewish society, in the light of the Torah.”

“He used to say: ‘Did ever a people hear G-d’s voice speaking out of the midst of the fire as you have heard, and live?’ (Deuteronomy 4:33) – you have such a people – out of the burning fire, out of the burning and the destruction, for they shake and stand and become strong – And they will live!”

“The Sages said ‘When Rabbi Abbahu passed away, the pillars of Caesarea, his city, ran with water as if they were shedding tears over him’ (Moed Katan 25b): the walls of the yeshiva shed streams of tears for the great loss.”

And a student of the Chachmei Lublin yeshiva, the genius Rabbi Pinchas Hirschprung z”l, upon hearing Rabbi Menachem Ziemba’s aforementioned words, raised his voice and cried:

“Vent, vent! Vint mit mir mit” (Walls, walls, cry with me). And there was great emotion amongst those listening.

And the genius Rabbi Menachem continued:

“It says in the Gemara (Rosh Hashana 34): ‘Rabbi Abbahu instituted in Caesarea the following order of sounding of the shofar: First a tekia, next three shevarim, followed by a terua and, finally, another tekia (types of shofar blasts).’ And the words of our rabbi, Hai the genius (quoted by the Ran rabbi) that there were different customs in this, and Rabbi Abbahu gathered and collected all the customs together.”

“The pain is so great, and the sorrow so immense, because only six weeks ago the holy righteous genius, the Chafetz Chaim, was taken from us, and now the Jewish People brings a new sacrifice…”

“Master of the World! We ask and beg – complete all the sacrifices (Yoma 33), that we fulfill our duty with these two great public sacrifices – they should complete all the sacrifices for everyone!”

Rabbi Menachem Ziemba’s eulogy left an indelible impression on the entire huge audience.

The student, Yaakov Hess, one of the young students of the yeshiva, who was gifted with a beautiful and unique voice, stood up to say the prayer “Kel Maleh Rachamim”, however, his strength did not allow him to finish the prayer, and when he reached the words: ‘The soul of our teacher Rabbi Meir,’ he burst into tears, and with him all the students were swept away in stormy and heartbreaking tears.

The eulogies on the balcony of the yeshiva

The students surrounded the coffin and carried it on their shoulders outside. They placed it in the square of the yeshiva’s courtyard, under the balcony from which a few years ago the speeches for the inauguration were given and now Torah elders stood there to continue to pay homage to Rabbi Shapira, the founder of the yeshiva.

The genius Rabbi Aharon Levin, Rabbi Shapira’s friend and colleague and partner in his extensive public activity, began his obituary in tears with the words:

“I’m sorry for you brother, You were so loyal to me!…” and because of his crying he couldn’t continue.

He concluded his remarks by reading the text of the decision of the assembly of rabbis and businessmen, that convened before the funeral, in which every Jew was called upon to contribute at least one zloty to the yeshiva, and all those who participated in the funeral and pledged to give larger sums, shoudl do so within a month.

After him, the eulogies were given by the genius Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Kanal z”l on behalf of the Association of Polish Rabbis; the genius Rabbi Moshe Chaim Lau z”l, the head of the beit din (religious court) of Preszow and a cousin of Rabbi Shapira; and after them, Rabbi Eliyahu Mazor, head of the Warsaw community and director of the yeshiva.

The last eulogy was given by the student Aharon Level who said goodbye to the rabbi in the name of the students; his speech shocked everyone present, with a broken and boiling heart he opened with the cry:

“Our holy rabbi, on whom did you abandon the flock! In whose hands did you leave us? Was it not as two bodies and one soul that you were bound to us, your disciples, your loved ones!”

“More than once you saved a a patient in danger, right in your wings, and here when you got sick it was not our merit to save you. When a Jew dies, it is a pity for his children, and you were a father to hundreds of students, why are you in such a hurry to run away from us? For whom have you abandoned the flock?”

The student continued his words, as huge waves of crying were heard from all over:

“Rabbi! Do not forget us! Know that the Jewish People are drowning in the sea of troubles and sufferings. Surrender your life and soul, surrender your soul for the common good, go and claim and ask for mercy before the Throne of Honour that we will be redeemed from the waters of trouble and that we will be granted the salvation of G-d…”

“We swore, that if as a soldier you fell on the battlefield, we would not be displaced from the front; in whatever situation we find ourselves, we will continue the Torah we received from you, a holy sacrifice from Judaism. Please remember this Judaism, the duty it mandates to provide for the orphans and not forget about them, please let Judaism know that the Chachmei Lublin yeshiva – the only son of our rabbi z”l will live! Even if we know hunger and scarcity, we will remain within the walls of this building, and the voice of the Torah will continue to be heard in it!”

It is not possible with words to describe the stormy waves of tears that the words of the closest and faithful disciple of the rabbi evoked.

The funeral procession moved from its place, the three kilometer long street was black with people. Thousands upon thousands of people walked mournfully and bent over after the coffin; thousands of people stood on the balconies and roofs and watched the funeral procession, this except for the women and children who the police forbade from participating in the funeral.

Strict maintenance of the order was organized ahead of time, the stricly-orthodox organization maintained an internal chain, while the external chain was made up of members of the “Soldier’s Alliance” and many police companies that were spread all along the road.

The funeral moved to Lubratoska Street through the synagogue of the Maharshal rabbi, where Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Pabianice gave a eulogy. With emotional sobbing, he called towards the coffin:

“Rabbi of Lublin! Don’t all the Tanaim and Amoraim (ancient rabbis) come out today for you and enter you into the Garden of Eden with joy, because who is like you who spread the Oral Torah in the through the daf yomi program, you do not have a great rabbi in Israel who revived several tractates from the Talmud like you, orphaned and ashamed these tractates were in the closet and no one turned to them except a few virtuous people in every generation, until the coming of Rabbi Meir who brought them back to life, and they became the property of all the Jewish People, to all the students of the daf yomi program, all those tractates, the thousands of pages of the Gemara that were learned thanks to you came out to greet you.”

In the meantime, the sun had already set; the shadows of the evening added to the feeling of grief that hang over the faces of the thousands of participants. The funeral journey lasted for many hours, and when the first participants arrived at the grave site, darkness had already fallen on Lublin.

At the open grave, Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin z”l, the head of the beit din of Lutsk, a dear friend of Rabbi Shapira, delivered a eulogy. After the eulogy by a number of rabbis acquainted with Rabbi Shapira, Rabbi Herschel Zilber, the head of the Lublin Jewish community, said goodbye on behalf of the city’s residents.

From all the buildings and balconies, voices of weeping and wailing accompanied the long and gloomy funeral journey.

Approaching the last minute before the burial of the holy body into the ground, they took another quick glance at the illuminating face of the rabbi, which, although three days had passed since his passing, continued to shine like the light of the sun. Once again the students saw their beloved rabbi and their fatherly teacher, and immediately the seal of the scroll was broken forever by the last glances. The very last moment arrived.

A close student of Rabbi Shapira, the chassid Rabbi David Weisbrod z”l, who held the rabbi’s hand when he passed away, said at that difficult moment:

“‘Because you will go out with joy’, the last words you said in life were ‘with joy,’ ‘and in peace you shall be brought,’ these words will lead you, ‘the mountains and the hills shall burst into song before you’ (Isaiah 55:12), all those high mountains and enormous difficulties that stood before you during the construction of the yeshiva will crack before you and pave your paths…and to the sound of the disciples’ cries, he ended with the words: ‘Go in peace and rest in peace on your bed…'”

Rabbi Shapira was buried next to the graves of his two students whom he brought to burial in his lifetime. Clumps of dirt fell on the coffin, the students tore their clothing in mourning, and all over the cemetery the sound of the Kaddish chanted by the hundreds of students resounded:

“Yitgadal ve’yitkadash Shemay raba” (Magnified and sanctified is the great name of G-d)

Students of Rabbi Meir Shapira of Lublin escorting his coffin. In the photo, one can see Mendel Weitz, Yosef Hochberg, and Moshe Okonowski. In front of the coffin is Rabbi Shmuel Eichenbaum.

*  *  *

The students left the grave with great difficulty and returned shocked to the orphaned yeshiva building. They sat down on the ground, and the yeshiva sat shiva. Hundreds and thousands came to comfort the bereaved home and the bereaved righteous rebbetzin. She did not utter a word for four consecutive days. Her grief pressed and pressed and she struggled with her pain, until half a year later, on the eve of Shavuot, she too passed away and a young age, and was buried in the Gensha cemetery in Warsaw.

*  *  *

In the city of Gur (Gora Kalwaria), on the Shabbat of the Torah portion of Lech Lecha, the chassid Rabbi Shimon Naftali Alter z”l, grandson of the Gerre Rebbe, the Imrei Emet z”l, planned to travel to the funeral in Lublin. He went to his grandfather to receive a parting blessing.

When he entered, he noticed the terrible pain and sadness on the Rebbe’s holy face.

“When you’re in Lublin, you should go to the community building and see the community register”…

Rabbi Shimon Naftali Alter z”l travelled to Lublin, took part in the large funeral, and afterwards went to the community building, and there like in all communities in Poland, was the community register documenting hundreds of the past years, generation after generation.

For the price of one zloty, he received one volume out of the many volumes that were there to peruse, he opened it, and to his astonishment a page opened in front of him with bold letters, in which an old regulation was written that was set by the city of Lublin, that a rabbi who served as a rabbi and the head of the beit din in the city of Lublin, could not officiate in another city… (told by the chassid Rabbi Shlomo Frankel z”l and the chassid Rabbi Chaim Zvi Abowitz, who heard this from Rabbi Shimon Naftali Alter z”l).

Indeed, it should be noted that, in fact, from a historical point of view, for two hundred years no rabbi in Lublin left the city to accept another rabbinic position, except for those who immigrated to the Land of Israel, such as the Torat Chesed rabbi and the genius Rabbi Eliyahu Klatzkin z”l.

In the past years, Rabbi Simcha Bunim Rapaport served as rabbi of Lublin and he was elected rabbi in Lvov, and he went there to accept the position, and when he was half way there in Szczebrzeszyn, he passed away, without even seeing the city of Lvov…

*  *  *

In the same time period of Rabbi Shapira’s passing, his teacher and rabbi, the Czortkower Rebbe, was lying on his deathbed, and of course they did not dare to tell him about the passing of his great disciple. But a few days after the terrible disaster, the Rebbe z”l began to inquire about the well-being of Rabbi Shapira. Those close to him tried to avoid the matter; the Rebbe asked every day for someone to bring him the Yiddishe Tagblat newspaper, and his children answered that all the printing houses in Warsaw were on strike and that the Tagblat had not been published. On Thursday, he called his children and asked them what day the disaster happened. When his sons tried to avoid answering him, he said “I know everything.” And he asked his children to sit around the table and he spoke about the greatness of the Rabbi of Lublin.

The conversation took a full hour.

(From the book by Abba Reichman z”l; Dos Yiddishe Tagblat Warsaw; Beit Ruzhin Monthly, vol. 5 pg. 5)

And in the book Siach Zekenim (part 4, pg 372) it states:

“At the end of the month of Tishrei 5694 (1933), Rabbi Yisrael of Czortkow z”l became sick and was taken to the hospital. My father z”l travelled to to be with the Czortkower Rebbe and he was there until after his death (Kislev 13, 5694/Dec. 2, 1933).”

“And my father told me, it was known that the genius Rabbi Meir Shapira z”l, the head of the bein din of Lublin, passed away on Cheshvan 7, 5694 (Oct. 27, 1933), and the Czortkower Rebbe was not told about his death; on one of the days of the shiva, the Rebbe woke up one morning and said ‘my Meir is no longer’…the chassid Rabbi David Zeidman z”l asked why the Rebbe said this. The Rebbe answer ‘he was with my now and he gave me a sign that displayed that he clearly was no longer in this world.'”

“Then the Rebbe said, they say that Meir was smart, but this is not the case; a person is sent to this world to do what he is assigned to do, if he is smart, he does what is assigned to him slowly, and then lives longer, but he hastened himself.”

*  *  *

The voice of the Torah continued to be heard in the holy yeshiva until the bitter day, in which the tyrant called a war against G-d and His Torah and His people.

On Friday, the eve of Shabbat when the Torah portion of Ki Tavo is read, Elul 17 5699 (Sept. 1, 1939), WWII broke out. Germany invaded Poland. A great trouble arose arose and fell upon the Jewish People. The leaders of the yeshiva decided to continue studying in the yeshiva’s buildings, and advised the students to go to their homes.

About this event of the farewell of the young men from the walls of their beloved yeshiva, I heard from my father and teacher, a student of the yeshiva, that it was a most horrible event. The young men parted from this great house with terrible tears. They hugged the walls and kissed the thousands of books from which they learned. After that, they went to the cemetery in order to take leave of their beloved rabbi. And from there they went from exile to exile, through Vilna, Cuba, and Shanghai, until some of them reached the promised shores (Israel).

*  *  *

On the 10th anniversary of Rabbi Shapira’s death, on the Cheshvan 7, 5704 (November 5, 1943), the Nazis completed the complete annihilation of the remnants of the Lublin Ghetto. On this day, the last of the Jews, about seventeen thousand innocent and upstanding Jews, righteous ones, and people of good deeds, were taken to be exterminated.

The cursed Nazis, who exterminated every memory of the Jews, plowed up the ancient Jewish cemetery, the place where tholy people rested, but only one grave remained standing, and that was the grave of our rabbi, Rabbi Meir Shapiro…

May his merit protect us.