Rabbi Mordechai Dov Diskin

From:

http://www.rishonim.org.il/petach-tikva/show_item.asp?levelId=15923...

"Rabbi Mordechai Diskin succeeded in setting up roots in the Land. He was one of the founders of Petach Tikva, and he also authored booklets on the love of Zion and the settlement of the Land."

Yitzchak Rivkind
Translated by Jerrold Landau

Yitzchak Rivkind was the son of a well-pedigreed family rooted in Lithuania (the Gaon Rabbi Hayim Heller was his uncle). In his parental home, a home of Torah, he absorbed the love of Torah and its studiers, and a deep connection to the holiness of the nation.

His grandfather, Rabbi Sender Diskin, one of the great wealthy people of Łódź, set up a Yeshiva with his own money, which he conducted in the Lithuanian style.

This grandfather made aliya to the Land. He intended to establish a weaving enterprise, similar to the enterprises that he set up in Łódź. However this did not succeed. On the other hand, his brother, Rabbi Mordechai Diskin succeeded in setting up roots in the Land. He was one of the founders of Petach Tikva, and he also authored booklets on the love of Zion and the settlement of the Land.

Rivkind acquired the love of Zion from his grandfather. He became an active member of Chovevei Zion when he studied in the Yeshiva of Volozhin during the period of Rabbi Rafael Shapira. During that period, vibrant nationalist youth gathered in the Yeshiva, who dreamed and prepared for aliya to the Land of Israel.

Rivkind began to dedicate himself to Zionist activity at a young age. He was one of the heads of those who made efforts for political Zionism. He visited many cities and towns, appealing for aliya to the Land of Israel. His teacher and rabbi regarding Zionist publicity was the well-known Zionist preacher, Rabbi Yitzchak Nisenbaum.

In the year 5677 (1917), Rivkind participated in the founding of the Young Mizrachi organization of Łódź. The founders aspired toward a large movement. Indeed, Young Mizrachi became a wide-branched organization, from which Hapoel Hamizrachi later developed.

During that year, Rivkind was a delegate to the Mizrachi convention in Poland. Where he was elected to the leadership. Rivkind conducted publicity for Mizrachi in writing as well. He participated in the Hamizrachi weekly, of which he was also one of the founders. He published two booklets regarding national publicity: “The Netzi'v and his relation to the Land of Israel,” and “The Mizrachi and its Outlook.” He was sent by Mizrachi as a publicist to Vilna. Once, an Orthodox opponent of Mizrachi complained and asked him, “What is your purpose? To add another ‘booklet of Mishna' to those that already exist?” Rivkind responded, “Indeed, we are another ‘booklet of Mishna.’ However what is the difference between us and you? We study the order of Zeraim, whereas you study the order of Nezikin.”[1*]

Rivkind was invited by Rabbi Meir Berlin (Bar-Ilan) to come to the United States to set up the Mizrachi movement there. He came in the year 5680 (1920). However, he left his communal work after some time, especially after he was accepted to work in the library of the Shechter Theological Seminary[2*] in New York in the year 5683 (1921). Rivkind became involved in the bibliographic profession in that library, and was one of the great bibliographers of our generation.

During the period when Rivkind left his communal work and immersed himself completely in the world of the book, a strong longing for his “spiritual birthplace” of Volozhin was aroused in him. He began to gather material to write the history of the Ets Hayim Yeshiva of Volozhin. Until his great effort came to fruition, he published several

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articles about the Yeshiva in Reshimot, Hadoar, Sefer Turov, and other forums. His material was of great value to anyone researching the history of the Yeshiva.

Among the important items for a researcher of the history of the Ets Hayim Yeshiva of Volozhin, Rivkin published “The Drama of the Closing of the Yeshiva of Volozhin,” which was written in Yiddish by a young student of the Telz Yeshiva who was very pained by the closing of the Ets Hayim Yeshiva. The active individuals in this drama were mainly abstractions – the Netzi'v and his students, the Talmud, the Torah, the Jewish nation, and the prophet Elijah. The content of this drama is: at the time of the closing of the Volozhin Yeshiva, a great danger awaited the Talmud, the source of Jewish life in the Diaspora. The Talmud got sick, and the Torah prayed to G-d for his only son. The first scene describes the closing of the Yeshiva. Later, there is a dialogue between the Netzi'v and his students. The fifth scene describes the Netzi'v going to the grave of Rabbi Hayim of Volozhin, as was always his custom when danger was lurking for the Jewish people.

The Netzi'v prostrates himself upon the grave of Rabbi Hayim and says with bitter weeping:

Holy grandfather, I disturb your rest today
With terrible news, that your Yeshiva is closed.
There is nobody in your Yeshiva. It is silent
From the Gemaras. And they have been driven out of learning.
The Talmud is missing in the world. The well is dry.
The soul of our people is in danger.
Go, grandfather, plead before G-d in Heaven
Go to the pargod[3*], prostate yourself before G-d, before his stool.
Act, Grandfather, with your tears, your full measure of tears.
Tell the Gaon, wake up Moses, that they should supplicate.
Wake up the Patriarchs, that they should know, and they can save us.
The Yeshiva that you hoped would remain forever,
Has been shuttered and locked, one cannot enter.
Awaken a merit for the People of Israel, they are immersed in tribulations,
Supplicate for Torah, with your tears wash away the decree.
I am weak. I do not know what to do
To again raise the sacred banner.
Do not sleep, Grandfather, your Yeshiva is closed.
Rivkind writes that on Seder nights, when all the Yeshiva students reclined together, the Yeshiva heads would sing Chasal Siddur Pesachin a special melody, at all times, and in all eras.

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Who was the composer of the melody? Two answers are given to this question. One states that Rabbi Hayim of Volozhin was the composer. The other states that his son Rabbi Itzele was the composer. Rivkind continues and says that when he was in Volozhin, he heard an additional legend that stated that when Rabbi Itzele traveled to Petersburg in the year 5604 [1844] regarding matters of the Jewish people, Jewish soldiers who were stationed in the capital of Russia came out to greet him with song, as was fitting for a great rabbi such as him, who was a leader of the generation. When Rabbi Itzele returned to Volozhin, he set the melody with which the Jewish soldiers greeted him to Chasal Siddur Pesach. From that time, this tune was accepted in Volozhin, and the heads of the Yeshiva and the students sung it every year[29].

Yitzchak Rivkin revealed an interesting thing, that in the year 5663 (1903), ten years after the death of the Netzi'v – two rabbis, students of the Ets Hayim Yeshiva of Volozhin, attempted to found a Yeshiva in New York named for the Netzi'v. The two rabbis were Rabbi Eliezer HaKohen Drucker, and Rabbi Michel Yehoshua Feinstein. Rabbi Drucker was not only a student of the Yeshiva of Volozhin, for he also married a woman from Volozhin, the daughter of Rabbi Dov Aryeh Perski, the author of the book Keter Torah. He was forced to leave Russia while his wife was still pregnant, and came to Montreal, Canada, where he was accepted as a rabbi. His wife sold her house in Volozhin, and prepared to travel to her husband, but she was forced to delay her departure because she loaned the proceeds of the house sale to the Netzi'v so that he would be able to discharge the debts of the Yeshiva.

Rivkind notes that students from the United States also studied in Volozhin. The Netzi'v valued greatly the power of the Russian immigrants in America, and foresaw their historic role as “for I was sent to preserve life” [Genesis 45:5]. When things were difficult for him and the Yeshiva, he called to “our brethren who live far away but are close in our thoughts.”

Rivkind states that he does not know whether this attempt succeeded, and for how long the Netzi'v was in the United States. However, he expresses a personal connection to the attempt to found a Yeshiva such as this in New York, ten years after the death of the Netzi'v[30].

מקום לידתו רוסיה גרודנו

תאריך לידתו תקצ"ט 1839

עיסוקו חקלאות-גידול ירקות

מקצועו עגלון, חנווני

מקום מגוריו ישראל יהוד, פ"ת, יפו

תאריך פטירתו כ"ז אב תרע"ד

מקום קבורתו פתח תקוה

בת הזוג דינה דיסקין

קורות חיים

ר' מרדכי דיסקין נולד בשנת תקצ"ט (1839) בגרודנו שברוסיה. עסק בחקלאות עוד לפני עלייתו ארצה. עלה בשנת תרמ"ב. בנה ביתו במושבה. גילה אומץ לב במאבקו עם ערבים. כלכל מעשיו בתושיה רבה. עסק בעגלונות מאז 1890. פרסם לעת-זקנה חוברת בשם "מאמר מרדכי" ובה פרשת חייו. נפטר בשיבה טובה ביום כ"ז באב תרע"ד. רעייתו: דינה בת ר' בנימין מאיר הכהן. נפטרה ביום כ"ו שבט תרפ"ג. ילדיהם: בנימין, חנה-פריל