This article originally appeared in Yated Neeman, Monsey NY. and is reprinted here with their permission

Chasidim say that many years ago, a chasid passed away and was brought, trembling, before the heavenly court. But to his vast relief not one accusing angel was in sight. Instead, a chorus of joyous shouts greeted him. "Baruch Haba! Welcome!" shouted throngs of gleaming angels. The chasid recognized them all. Here was the angel created by his hours of learning, there was the angel created by his heartfelt prayers. Joyfully the angels began accompanying him to his place in Gan Eden. But a prosecuting angel blocked his path.

"You're going nowhere!" it snarled, "You have one sin and for that sin you must be punished!"

"But, but, it wasn't my fault," stuttered the chasid. "My wife forced me to do it!"

"Ha!" sneered the angel. "Is that what you call an excuse?" The heavenly court ruled. "The chasid must indeed pay for his sin,". "And, as for you, prosecuting angel, for laughing at the chasid, you are sentenced to go down to earth and marry an earthly woman. Then we'll see how well you manage."

This prosecuting angel was born as none other than the Rav Yaakov Yitzchak, the Yid Hakadosh of Peshischah, a man so holy that the mere mention of his greatness is enough to raise the fear of heaven in men's hearts.

THE HOLY YID

The Chiddushai Harim said that he was called the "Holy Yid" because every day he grew in Madreigos the same proportion of the difference between a yid and a goy. Others say that he was nicknamed the Yid so that he should not be called "Yaakov Yitzchak" which is the same name as his Rebbe - The Chozeh of Lublin.

Others explain that Rav Yaakov Yitzchak was once seated with his talmidim when a Polish merchant clapped him on the shoulder and announced, "Toi Yest Zhid," "This is a Jew!" The talmidim believed that this merchant was none other than Eliyahu Hanavi himself, and from then on they titled their rebbe the "Yid" Hakadosh.

Yaakov Yitzchak was a tzadik nistar from birth. Not yet realizing his son's greatness, his father, Rav Asher of P'shedvorz, was disappointed because the only thing that seemed to interest his son was lovingly tending the needs of the family's flock of sheep. In addition, the boy seemed to be a glutton because he was constantly running off with more bread than five boys his age could consume. In desperation Rav Asher beat his son to force him to change his ways.

But one morning Rav Asher was passing the local beis medrash when he heard sounds of weeping and shouting. Drawing closer, he peered through the window and saw his son so exalted in prayer that he was close to fainting. Soon afterwards, he also discovered that the bread his son took was not for himself, but for paupers.

TRIBULATIONS OF MARRIAGE

Rav Yaakov Yitzchak continued to hide his special ways even after his marriage. In fact, his father-in-law began to suspect that he was an absolute good for nothing.

But Rav Yaakov Yitzchak's mother-in-law pointed out that he was greatly mistaken.

"Go to the place where he hides himself [in the beis medrash] and you'll see what he really is!"

When Rav Yaakov Yitzchak heard that his secret was lost he cried out, "Oy vay! He's lost his daughter because of that!"

Sure enough, Rav Yaakov Yitzchak's wife passed away soon afterwards and he married her sister Sheindel.

Two further reasons are given why Rav Yaakov Yitzchak's first wife passed away.

It is said that his mother-in-law was so impressed by his righteousness that she davened for a husband just like him. "Ribbono Shel Olam!" she pleaded. "Please send my second daughter, Shaindele, a husband like Rav Yaakov Yitzchak!"

However, Rav Yaakov Yitzchak was absolutely unique in his generation. So to fulfill this prayer, his first wife had to pass away and he married her sister.

The "Kedushas Levi" said that Rav Yaakov Yitzchak's first wife passed away because he had the soul of Rabeinu Tam who married two sisters. And Rabeinu Tam married two sisters because he possessed a spark of the soul of Yaakov who married two sisters.

Now began the first of Rav Yaakov Yitzchak's two major tribulations. Sheindel became a nag and scold and constantly found fault with his saintly ways. However, for many reasons, she can hardly be blamed for this. Firstly, Rav Yaakov Yitzchak was the first to admit that Sheindel was really a patient, understanding woman who would never have given him a moment of distress. It was he himself who davened to Hashem that she should oppose his ways.

Furthermore, just before Rav Yaakov Yitzchak's death when his talmidim resentfully tried to push Sheindel away from his bed, she cried out to him, "Tell your talmidim that it was you yourself who commanded me to behave like a shrew all these years." Too weak to speak, the rebbe lifted his head and nodded his head in silent assent.

On top of that, the couple lived in absolute, abject poverty because Rav Yaakov Yitzchak had taken upon himself to fulfill two mitzvos with absolute "mesirus nefesh," the command to eliminate negative physical impulses and the mitzvah of charity. Concerning the first, Rav Yaakov Yitzchak said that he was as distant from negative physical impulses as a corpse that has lain in the earth five-hundred years, and concerning the second he never allowed even one penny to remain in his house overnight before giving it to charity.

Because of his willingness to give away his last coins to charity, Sheindel was often reluctant to give hospitality to Rav Yaakov Yitzchak's talmidim.

Rav Yaakov Aryeh of Radzamin, a guest of Rav Yaakov Yitzchak, related that one Erev Pesach, Sheindel told him to go packing.

"Yaakov,"she said. "Don't think you'll be spending Peasch with us - we don't have even one penny for ourselves. Not even for matzos and potatoes." When Rav Yaakov told this to Rav Yaakov Yitzchak he commanded him, "Yaakov! Lift the table leg!"

Rav Yaakov lifted the table leg and found underneath a gold coin worth more than all his expenses. The second Sheindel heard of this she stormed into the Rebbe's room and demanded, "What about us. For Rav Yaakov you're worried, but us you leave to starve?"

Rav Yitzchak Yaakov didn't turn a hair. "Lift up the second table leg!" he told her.

She lifted it up and sure enough, there lay another gold coin. Excited by the miracle, Sheindel never spent the money at all. Instead she kept the two coins her whole life as a keepsake of her husband's sanctity. After the Rebbe passed away, Sheindel also revealed why she constantly tried to prevent petitioners from reaching her husband's door.

"He had so much mercy on them," she explained, "that if he realized, with his holy spirit, that death was irrevocably decreed on someone, he would offer one of his own children in exchange. Could I sit idly by and do nothing?"

Nevertheless, nag and scream as she might, Sheindel rarely roused any reaction from her saintly husband. Only on one occasion did he lash back at her in response and begin to argue.

The Rebbe's talmid, Rav Simchah Bunim, watched this in amazement. "What happened this time?" he asked. "Why did you answer back?"

"I realized," replied Rav Yaakov Yitzchak, "that this time my wife was suffering from my obstinate silence. So to make her feel better I yelled back."

Perhaps it is Rav Yaakov Yitzchak's marital problems that gave him an insight into the sanctity of a second day of Yom Tov.

Once, when Rav Yaakov Yitzchak was a guest of the Maggid of Kozhnitz, the Maggid turned to him and asked, "Yid Hakodesh! Perhaps you can explain why I feel more sanctity on the second day of Yom Tov than on the first?"

After a moment's thought, Rav Yaakov Yitzchak replied, "The second day of Yom Tov was only instituted after Israel were exiled to Babylon. Now, when a husband and wife quarrel and make up, isn't their love greater than ever before?"

THE SECOND TRIBULATION

The second great tragedy of Rav Yaakov Yitzchak's life was the protracted quarrel that developed between him and his beloved Rebbe, the Chozeh of Lublin whom he feared and revered to the point where he refused to accept any honors in his shul.

"I have such a fear of the Chozeh," he explained, "that if I am called up to the Torah or become a shaliach tzibbur in his beis midrash, I'm afraid my soul would fly from my body altogether."

Evil gossips were bothered by the fact that Rav Yaakov Yitzchak had set up a successful court of his own while the Chozeh was still alive and they were determined to do something about it.

A chassid name Rav Kissele, who was renowned for his piety, whispered scandalous evil about Rav Yaakov Yitzchak to the Chozeh and the Chozeh accepted his words. For reasons which were only understood later, the Chozeh accepted these reports and for years, a steel barrier was erected between the Chozeh and his talmid.

Yet, despite everything, Rav Yaakov Yitzchak bore no grudge against his enemies. On the contrary, he made a special pidyon each night so that they should not be punished. One night, however, he suddenly woke and gasped out, "Oy vay! Tonight I forgot to make the pidyon before I went to sleep!"

That very night one of his enemies was suddenly afflicted with a throat hemorrhage. The man raced desperately to the Chozeh for help, but it was too late and he passed away.

How did the controversy end? A certain merchant who knew Rav Yaakov Yitzchak well, hid one day behind a closet to overhear what kind of slander Rav Kissele was feeding the Chozeh. But after a few minutes, he could bear it no longer. Bursting from his hiding place, he seized the Chozeh's tefillin and declared, "I swear on these tefillin that every word this man said is an absolute lie!"

Rav Kissele shamefacedly rushed out of the room and the Chozeh thanked the merchant for his intervention.

"Not for nothing did I believe Rav Kissele," he explained. "For twenty-eight years the Satan guarded Rav Kissele from having even an improper thought in order to give him credibility in my eyes. But, Baruch Hashem, I have discovered the truth at last!"

The second thing that caused the Chozeh to relent was the death of his first wife. The Chozeh understood that she had been punished for speaking evil of Rav Yaakov Yitzchak. The Chozeh then summoned Rav Yaakov Yitzchak to come and give his version of the events that had led up to the controversy.

"What did you do when chassidim began following you?" The Chozeh asked Rav Yaakov Yitzchak. "Did you encourage them?"

"I did nothing but read Psalms," replied Rav Yaakov Yitzchak. "Do you consider that nothing?" complained the Chozeh.

"What should I have done?" asked Rav Yaakov Yitzchak.

"You could at least have been angry," retorted the Chozeh.

"Look in my heart, Rebbe," replied Rav Yaakov Yitzchak. "Is it possible for me to become angry?"

The Chozeh bent forward and scrutinized the innermost chambers of Rav Yaakov Yitchak's heart.

"You are right," he concluded, "anger is absolutely beyond you."

A DIFFERENT KIND OF LEARNING

Rav Yaakov Yitzchak was famed for his immense intellect. When the Maggid of Kozhnitz was very old and felt that death was approaching, he immediately sent for Rav Yaakov Yitzchak to come and speak with him in learning and avodas Hashem.

"Every person has a specific goal which he must reach in life," explained the Maggid. "I am old and have already achieved my life's goals. But when I discuss Torah with Rav Yaakov Yitzchak, I am granted more life to fully understand and implement the profound Torah ideas he has taught me."

The chiddushai Harim said that many great Tzadikim hide their true madreiga by publicly showing a different aspect of their persona to blind people to their real spiritual stature. He said the Yid Hakodosh used his great lomdus and geonus to obscure his tremendous madreiga as an oved hashem.

A chasid once came to Rav Yaakov Yitzchak with an acute lung disease. Rav Yaakov Yitzchak told the Jew a deep pilpul in the laws of the treifus of the lung and the Jew recovered.

On one of his visits to Lublin, Rav Yaakov Yitzchak had occasion to meet the Gaon Rav Ezriel who was known as the "Eizener Kop" (Rosh Habarzel) because of his famous intellect.

"I have heard," Rav Ezriel asked the Yid Hakadosh, "that the Chozeh takes combs to distribute in the bathhouse to do chesed so as not to remain for even one moment without a mitzva. But doesn't this contradict an explicit Gemara? The Gemara in (Menachos 43b) states that King David felt that he was bereft of mitzvos in the bathhouse until he remembered that he had the bris milah. But what was King David's problem? Why didn't he simply distribute combs as your rebbe does?"

"You're the one who forgot an explicit Gemara," retorted Rav Yaakov Yitzchok, "Don't you remember the Mishnah in Sanhedrin that no one may bathe in a king's company? A king cannot waive his honor, so there was never anyone for him to give combs to!"

Once, in the middle of a shiur, Rav Yaakov Yitzchok encountered a problematic text and was soon immersed in profound thought. One bochur, who had lost his father, knew from past experience that it might be hours until the rebbe emerged from his contemplation, so he took the opportunity to slip out for a snack. Just as he was about to return his mother called out, "Son, please fetch me some fodder down from the loft!" The bochur raced to do the chore and then hurried back to the shiur. Just as he entered, Rav Yaakov Yitzchok straightened out and asked him, "What mitzvah have you just performed?"

"Kibbud eim," replied the youth.

"Now I understand," said Rav Yaakov Yitzchak "When you re-entered the beis medrash, you were accompanied by Abaye who had no parents, and accompanies people performing 'kibud av ve'eim' to gain a share in their mitzvah. And once he arrived, he gave me the answer to what was bothering me. After all, he himself was one of the disputants in that sugya."

In addition to his brilliance, Rav Yaakov Yitzchak was also an ingenious pedagogue. He once instructed Rav Simchah Bunim to go on a mysterious journey without revealing a clue as to its purpose. Rav Simchah Bunim arrived in a small village where he was offered a flesihig meal. Immediately, Rav Simchah Bunim and his companions began peppering the host with a thousand questions - How had the animal been shechted? Was it salted properly? Was the forbidden fat properly removed?

A ragged stranger sitting quietly nearby, quietly interrupted their questions. "Are you all as careful," he asked, "about what comes out of your mouths, as what goes inside?"

Confident that this was the lesson he had been sent to learn, Rav Simchah Bunim promptly returned to P'shischa.

B'Chol Nafshecha

Shortly after his marriage he told his wife that if he was ever missing for a long time, she should search for him in the hayloft. "I often faint during my prayers," he said, "and it will be good if you come and revive me." And this often happened. Many were the times that she found him prostrated in a dead faint and only after much exertion would he regain consciousness.

Rav Yaakov Yitzchak was once journeying with Rav Moshe Leib of Sassov when he disappeared for three days. What had become of him? Rav Moshe Leib was as sensitive to holiness as a bloodhound and using his spiritual sense of smell he drew closer and closer to Rav Yaakov Yitzchak's hiding place until he found him davening in such absolute devekus that his soul was just about to leave his body. Rav Moshe Leib instantly fell on Rav Yaakov Yitzchak and begged him to stop davening before it was too late.

The Yid Hakadosh used to spend hours preparing himself to daven, but once he finally started davening he would rattle off the words at breakneck speed.

"Why do you do this?" his rebbe, the Chozeh once asked him. "The words are so sweet and tasty that I have to gobble them at once!" he replied.

"But don't I also love the words of davening?" asked the Chozeh. "Your prayers are like burning prayer and cannot be gobbled fast," replied the Yid Hakadosh.

The Yid Hakadosh also had absolute control over his midos. When his father, Rav Asher, passed away in 1798, Rav Yaakov Yitzchak came for the funeral in P'shedvorz just before Shabbos. To the town's astonishment, that whole Shabbos Rav Yaakov Yitzchak behaved joyfully as if nothing had happened at all. What was going on? Didn't the rebbe care that his own father had passed away?

But after Shabbos the riddle was solved. The minute Havdalah was over, the rebbe collapsed from his chair and rolled onto the floor in an hour long paroxysm of grief.

Once Rav Yaakov Yitzchak said to Rav Simchah Bunim of P'shischa, "Quote me a verse and I'll interpret it for you."

"Vayedaber Moshe es kol divrei hashirah hazos be'oznei kol kehal Yisrael ad tumam," said Rav Simchah Bunim. "Moshe spoke all the words of the song in the ears of the whole congregation of Israel until they were completed."

"I learn the end of the verse differently," said Rav Yaakov Yitzchak. "'Ad Tumam' means, 'Until they, Israel, were perfected.'" Rav Yaakov Yitzchak was famous for his miracles. In his younger years, he was a tutor and years later, the father of one of the boys he tutored brought him his son, whose name was Mosh, who was blinded by a severe eye ailment.

"Can you hear?" the rebbe asked the blind boy.

"Certainly," replied the boy.

"Well, is it not written," said the rebbe, "Vayishma Moshe vayitav be'einav," "And Moshe heard and it was good in his eyes."

Immediately the boy's vision was restored.

A FATAL CHOICE

Rav Yaakov Yitzchak passed away on 19th Tishrei 1813 when he was only forty eight years old. The Ruzhiner remarked, "He died younger than us all, but he was greater than us all."

So poor was Rav Yaakov Yitzchak that the only tallis he possessed was a plain sheet with tzitzis attached. So his son, Yehoshua Asher had to provide a tallis of his own for the funeral.

Rav Yaakov Yitzchak was officially succeeded by his son, Rav Yerachmiel. But the true transmitter of his derech was his talmid Rav Simchah Bunim of P'shischa. Other important disciples of his included Rav Menachem Mendel of Kotzk, Rav Yitzchok Meir of Ger, Rav Chanoch Heinich of Alexander, Rav Yitzchak of Vorki and Rav Yissachar Ber of Radoshitz. May his memory be a blessing.