Brooklyn, NY – Rav Yechezkel Roth, the Karlsburger Rav of New York, leads a venerated beis hora’ah in Boro Park, but his heart is attached to Meron, where he spends weeks upon weeks secluded in the holy tziyun of Rabi Shimon bar Yochai. He doesn’t divulge too many of his mystical secrets, such as why he wears his Shabbos finery throughout his stays in Meron, except to hint at the cryptic blessings all Jews can attain. “When a Jew leaves here, he’ll take with him the blessings of Shabbos — the blessings of Rabi Shimon — and all entreaties will be accepted”
The regulars are used to the scene. It’s only Tuesday, yet the elderly rav is bedecked in his Shabbos finery, his head crowned with a shtreimel, as he’s bent over the text of the Idra Zuta. Jews of all stripes approach him reverently, whispering their full names in request of a brachah or a yeshuah in the merit of the holy Tanna whose body lies in this sacred place.
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From dawn until long after the sky has filled with stars, the rav sits in the tomb and toils in the Torah of Rabi Shimon bar Yochai. Between davening and learning, he approaches the large stone monument in the center of the tziyun — adorned in its ornamental velvet paroches — and murmurs chapters of Tehillim, as he invokes the names of his many brothers and sisters in need of heavenly salvation.
This is Rav Yechezkel Roth of Boro Park, gaavad of Karlsburg, eminent posek. His venerated beis din in Boro Park is already cultivating its third generation of dayanim, and, as the author of the eight-volume set Emek HaTeshuvah, he stands at the helm of an impressive system of batei hora’ah that respond to intricate sh’eilos from around the globe.
Yet three times a year — during the months of Elul, in Shvat during the weeks of Shovavim, and on Lag B’Omer — the Karlsburger Rav bids farewell to his fellow dayanim, talmidim, and the piles of sh’eilos accumulating on his desk, to embark on an open-ended journey to Eretz Yisrael. He purchases a ticket without a return date, and heads to the mountains of the Upper Galilee and Mount Meron, burial place of Rabi Shimon bar Yochai. Throughout his trip, he seldom departs the sacred mountain. In fact, many of his chiddushim and halachic responsa were written in Meron, as he notes at the beginning of his seforim — which, in addition to Emek HaTeshuvah, include Chezkas Taharah, Emek Shmaatsa, Chazon Yechezkel, Mishpat Ha’aretz, and Keren HaTorah.
“Rabi Shimon is everyone’s rebbe; he accepts each and every Jew as he is, even the simplest of the simple,” he said as he alighted the plane on his most recent trip. “It’s worthwhile to come here from anywhere in the world, to this place where salvation is promised.”
A Secret Bond The reason for the Karlsburg Rav’s intense bond with Meron remains a secret, even to his son Rav Moshe Roth, who has been escorting his holy father on his frequent trips to Meron since 1980. As a rare privilege, we too escort the Rav, together with his rebbetzin, son, and daughter-in-law, from Ben-Gurion Airport up the winding mountains to Meron in honor of Lag B’Omer.
“We learn from the Zohar HaKadosh that the passing of Rabi Shimon bar Yochai was like the passing of Moshe Rabbeinu. It occurred at the same hour, Minchah of Shabbos Kodesh. However, his bed was held fast by the wings of the Shechinah, and his death was delayed until Motzaei Shabbos, Lag B’Omer night.”
The Karlsburger Rav falls silent; his eyes close and he strokes his beard thoughtfully. “It is written in halachah that one is obligated to fast on the day that one’s father or rebbi passes away. So I would like to ask: Why do we celebrate a hilula on the day Rabi Shimon bar Yochai returned his soul to the heavens? Should we not fast instead?
“It must mean that Rabi Shimon bar Yochai never really perished Tattoo Guns For Sale! He was, and he remains, the messenger who speaks the merits of Klal Yisrael. Indeed, it is written that in his generation, never was the sign of the rainbow seen in the clouds.
“The Zohar relates that as Rabi Shimon bar Yochai was niftar, he was speaking divrei Torah, and his soul departed as he recited the pasuk, ‘Ki sham tzivah Hashem es habrachah — For there, Hashem commanded the blessing.’ Rabi Shimon was the conduit for all bounty and blessing to Klal Yisrael. He was the messenger who conveyed blessing and goodness to the world; and it is fitting to rejoice on the day of his celebration. This day, the day of Lag B’Omer, forever remains the day upon which Hashem commands blessing via Rabi Shimon bar Yochai. Just as he commanded blessing during his lifetime; so too, he transmits blessing and salvation to Klal Yisrael on this day as well. His day and his place are auspicious for all kinds of salvation.”
Magnetic Pull The Karlsburger Rav emigrated from Romania in 1953 and settled in Eretz Yisrael. He learned under the Maharitz Dushinsky, attended shiurim in Yeshivos Chevron and Slabodka, and became close to Reb Yidele Horowitz, Rebbe of Dzhikhov. Although he was a young avreich and Kabbalah was usually reserved for much older disciples, the pull of the Hidden Torah so captivated him that he would secretly slip into the Kabbalah yeshivos in Yerushalayim and study the mystical tikunim with the elderly sages. In particular, his soul was drawn to the holy mekubal Rav Yeshaya Asher Zelig Margaliot, one of the great kabbalists of the previous generation. During those years, he visited Meron several times, but not on a regular basis.
Does the Rav recommend that Diaspora Jewry invest time, energy, and money in order to visit the burial site of Rabi Shimon bar Yochai?
“What’s the question!?” he seems surprised. “One should travel from the opposite end of the earth to visit Rabi Shimon! There are centuries-old testimonies of Yidden who expended tremendous energy and traveled for weeks and months just to visit the holy burial site of Rabi Shimon bar Yochai. In this day and age, when travel is so simple, how can we not take advantage of the opportunity? Anyone who has the ability to do so should certainly visit the tziyun of Rashbi!
“It is known that the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh crawled on his hands and knees up the mountain of Meron in fear and awe. It is written that ever since the Beis HaMikdash was destroyed, the Shechinah continues to rest upon the burial sites of tzaddikim, and here on the tomb of Rabi Shimon the intensity of the Shechinah continues to rest. Rabi Shimon’s blessings affect the entire universe.”
If the Ohr HaChaim and others like him experienced such trepidation when ascending the mountain, how can the simple Jews of the modern age approach this holy site without being overwhelmed?
“When one appreciates that Rabi Shimon bar Yochai accepts every Jew as he is, and directs his simple, heartfelt tefillah exactly as is to the heavens, then there is no reason to fear,” the Rav assures. “Rabi Shimon values the positive attributes in each and every Yid.”
Even if his tefillos are not delivered with sublime intentions?
“Yes, even if the tefillah is not delivered properly. It is written that Rabi Shimon bar Yochai stands and advocates from the source of compassion and loving-kindness. Everyone is meritorious, everyone is kosher; everyone can escape midas hadin.”
Dark and Deserted After years of married life in Eretz Yisrael, the Karlsburger Rav took leave of the holy soil to settle in the US, where he eventually became recognized as one of the great Diaspora poskim. Years later, he began dividing his time between New York and Eretz Yisrael, where he secludes himself for weeks on end in the spiritual shadow of Rabi Shimon in Meron.
In 1972, the Satmar Rebbe ztz”l sought a posek with uncompromising spiritual standards to serve on the Satmar beis din in Boro Park. The Rebbe’s spiritual requirements were daunting. The Karlsburger Rav, whose brilliance in Torah is surpassed only by his staunch principles and hashkafos that closely match those of Satmar, was immediately approved by Reb Yoelish. He dispatched messengers to the Karlsburger Rav’s home in Eretz Yisrael requesting that Rav Roth relocate to Boro Park to disseminate Torah, and the Rav assented. Since then, he has lived in New York, and although he is not officially affiliated with any group, he has close ties with the Satmar community.
The Karlsburger Rav soon acquired a reputation as one of the most eminent poskim of the generation. He accepts the most complex sh’eilos from all sections of the Shulchan Aruch, responding in lucid, understandable terms. His piskei halachah are studied and analyzed in batei medrash l’hora’ah throughout the world, and some of his responsa to personal status and family issues have ended months and even years of halachic debate where other dayanim were unwilling to take responsibility for such sensitive rulings.
Rebbe Yoel of Satmar passed away in the summer of 1979; around that time, the Karlsburger Rav made what seemed like a sudden, unexplained decision to travel to Eretz Yisrael to learn at the tziyun of Rabi Shimon bar Yochai. He invited his son along for the journey.
“When we arrived in Meron, it was cold, dark, and deserted,” recalls his son Rav Moshe Roth. “There was none of the basic infrastructure of food and accommodations that exists today. There was nothing here at all, not even a room to rent.”
Rav Moshe means that literally; when asked where they slept he smiles. “There were chicken coops on the mountain, and these were cleaned to accommodate us!”
Where did the visitors find cooked food on the lonely mountaintop?
“Cooked food? Who said anything about that?” Rav Moshe laughs. “Remember, we came at the ‘off-season.’ But since halachah mandates eating hot food on Shabbos, we put hard-boiled eggs on a hot plate. We ate a hot egg for our Friday night seudah and another hot egg for our seudas Shabbos Tattoo Kits Supply, and thus fulfilled our obligation of eating hot food.”
“Today,” the Rav adds, “mi k’amcha Yisrael? There are so many good-hearted Jews who fulfill the mitzvah of hachnassas orchim at a supreme level! There is an abundance of delicious food and drinks Tattoo Tubes, a profusion of hot foods and delicacies, of which everyone is invited to partake. This is a tremendous zchus for Klal Yisrael!”
Today, a residential apartment with an attached beis medrash and mikveh accommodate the Rav during his stay in Meron. The beis medrash is located at the onset of the path marked “Derech Mehadrin,” the men-only path from the bottom of the moshav up to the tziyun.
The Rav bought the house in 1980 from two brothers, Reb Avraham and Reb Aryeh Fried, who were paying property tax for the tiny hovel despite years of disuse. They knew the property was running them a loss, yet they were unable to sell it in its state of disrepair. When the Karlsburger Rav heard about the shack, he paid them in cash and bought it on the spot. The structure was transformed into an unofficial hachnassas orchim where the Rav ensured that there was always hot food available for visitors to Meron.
“We have tremendous hakaras hatov to Rabbi Noach Sternfeld, a Breslover chassid who exhibited mesirus nefesh to improve the burial sites of tzaddikim,” the Rav says. “He was a big help to us back then.”
“When we first came to Meron, Reb Noach was childless,” Rav Moshe recounts. One day, Reb Noach approached the Karlsburger Rav and implored him to pray on his behalf. At the time, the only structure resembling a mikveh was a tiny, neglected hole in the court of the tziyun, and its kashrus was dubious. The gaavad instructed Reb Noach — with the joint effort of Meron’s Rabbi Naftali Friedman — to build a proper mikveh for the worshippers.
“A short while later, Reb Noach Sternfeld and his wife were blessed with a child.”
In the quiet winter nights, in the searing summer sun, a man sits at Rabi Shimon’s tziyun poring over his holy seforim, crowned by his Shabbos shtreimel although it’s still the middle of the week. For the Karlsburger Rav discerns the latent power of Meron as parallel to that of Shabbos. : “Rabi Shimon bar Yochai holds the essence of Shabbos,” he discloses a partial answer for his mystical practice. “When we are with the tzaddik, it is also the bechinah of Shabbos, from which all days of the week derive their blessing.
“And just as Shabbos blesses the entire week, when every Jew goes home, he’ll take with him the blessings of Shabbos — the blessings of Rabi Shimon. And all entreaties will be accepted: shidduchim, health, parnassah … everything he needs!” —in Meron.
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