Niggun

[YOSEF KAZEN <yyk...>]

                  ***ATTENTION MUSIC LOVERS***

Following are excerpts from the new book called "NIGGUN:
Stories Behind the Chasidic Songs That Inspire Jews."

It's authored by Mordechai Staiman and published by Jason
Aronson, Inc.
*****************************************************************

                               SONG ON FIRE

                The inside scoop on how and where
                 the Ziditchover Rebbe heard his
               "theme song" niggun from the angels
                            in heaven.

Legend has it that the most inspiring and exalted niggun that
Rabbi Hershele Eichenstein of Ziditchov [1] left behind was one
he heard the angels singing in honor of G-d.

When?
How?
Where?

Until now, not too many people outside the Ziditchov, Rozdol
and Komarno Rebbe dynasties knew for certain.

Now, at last, the current Komarno Rebbe, shlita, Rabbi Alter
Yitzchak E. Safrin, has pinpointed the time and place.

Notes the Komarno Rebbe:

    "I heard it from my father, who heard it from his father, who
     heard it from his father, who heard it from his father, who
     heard it from the lips of Rabbi Hershele himself.  This is
     what he told him:

         "'In disgrace I was driven out of the village of Brody
           [in Galicia], on the day before Shabbos.  It was not
           easy for me to walk home and tell my family and
           friends that I felt I was at a low point of my life.

           But just before Shabbos, I reached a small town
           [Putkamin, Galicia] and went directly to the shul
           in my weekday clothes.

           There I was recognized by some of my chasidim, who,
           shortly before Mincha, brought me my Shabbos garments.

           In my prayers during Mincha I spoke to Hashem, saying:

              "L-rd of the world, you see the humiliation of
               those who have been humiliated, and you see my
               crushed heart. Give me light so that I can pray to
               you."

           Then suddenly, my prayers, my heart, my soul, my body
           - all caught fire.  My prayer was an eternal flame.

           Never before had I experienced such holiness in
           Mincha, never before had sublime, holy ecstasy
           happened to me and it may never happen again.'"

Out of that experience came Reb Hershele's niggun, "In Ziditchov
burns a fire that is never extinguished."

About the fire that is never extinguished, the niggun of flowing
flame, Reb Hershele of Ziditchov passed it down through three
dynasties - Ziditchov, Rozdol and Komarno - made up of brothers
and nephews, forming a close-knit family which was at the same
time a school whose patriarch/teacher he was.

Reb Hershele himself demonstrated that fiery power.

In his time there was a deadly epidemic that was cutting down
many Jews' lives.

In a moment of great self-sacrifice, Reb Hersehele said he "is
sacrificing his own life to save the Jews." Upon his passing
away, the epidemic stopped.

"I recall another story," said the Komarno Rebbe.

"When my great-great-grandfather, Rabbi Eisikel Komarno, was
about ten years old, his father Alexander passed away.

"Homeless, he went to live with Reb Hershele, who saw the genius
in his nephew; by six, it is said, Eisikel already knew Kabbala,
Gemara, and much of the Torah.

"But the nephew was also very sensitive.

"Quickly he came to share Reb Hershele's holy ecstasies.

"He saw that the Ziditchover Rebbe, whenever he was carried away
with kedusha and he could not find anything else to do or say, he
would break into song.  Thus, 'In Ziditchov there burns a fire
...' became the nephew's theme song too.

"On the night before Shavuos, the nephew was awakened by the
walls vibrating with sounds.  Where were they coming from?
Perhaps next door from his uncle's room?

"At moments he could discern an angelic voice singing, humming,
lamenting, warbling, he could hear the prayers and meditations
of a man so close to his G-d, he could hear the niggun
"In Ziditchov there burns a fire ..."  What was going on?
he wondered.  Was Reb Hershele alone?  To the nephew's ear,
it sounded like a congregation of angels - or ...?

"The nephew was truly scared.  He had no fear for his uncle's
safety, but what did he really know?  Perhaps they were not
angels, but the Evil One himself and his disciples who were
tormenting his uncle.  Perhaps his uncle was in serious trouble.
He had to do something.  In a burst of energy the nephew entered
his uncle's room.  'Uncle, dear Uncle,' the nephew cried out,
'why are you crying?'

"Suddenly the Ziditchover Rebbe caught himself and turned to his
young ward.  He saw tears of fear and wonder streaming down his
nephew's face, genuine concern in his voice.  At this sight, the
Ziditchover Rebbe was deeply moved.

"But what could he say to a ten-year-old boy?  What could the boy
say to him?  Yet the two--generations apart--always seemed to
understand one another.  So he decided to explain his night of
pain to his nephew.

"'Child, I cry because this year more people are coming to pray
with me than last year, and how can I really give personal
attention to every person?  I cry also because I am afraid the
unholy one, Satan, is sending many of these people to me, to test
me, trying to make me prideful.  And I don't want that.'"

It is said that Reb Hershele Eichenstein, from the village of
Ziditchov, never raised a glass of water to his lips without
going through a special mystical concentration (kavanah).

One handed-down story to the Komarno Rebbe tells us that one
night, Reb Yitzhak Eisik from the village of Safrin (died 1800),
who, generally would pace the floor in the early morning hours
because he couldn't sleep, began weeping aloud.  His weeping was
so bad it roused his wife Hinda.  "What is the matter?" she
wanted to know out of concern for him.  He bemoaned to her that
he had little time to live, he feared, and who knew if he merited
getting into the Garden of Eden, where all holy Jewish people go
after they pass away.  For him, this was no idle thought; she
could see he was genuinely tormented.

"Do not worry," she said to him.  "We have five children. They
will help us with their holiness, their righteousness, to gain
entrance to Gan Eden."

Hearing this, her husband started to calm down. Then she reminded
him how Moses and the Jewish people, on the way to Eretz Yisrael
[then Eretz Canaan], wanted to go through the land of Edom. So he
petitioned the king. 'We are in Kadesh, a city on the border of
your territory.  Please let us pass through your land; we will
not pass through field or through vineyards; we will not drink
water from the wells; we will go by the king's highway; we will
not turn aside to the right or to the left until we have passed
through your territory.

"'Then Edom sent word to Moses:  "You shall not pass through, or
else I will come out to meet you with the sword."

The sons of Yisrael sent word to him in return: "Bamisila Na-Aleh
- We will go up by the side road and if we should drink from your
waters, I or my livestock, then I will pay their purchase price -
[I will do] nothing else whatsoever; only let me pass through
with my feet."' [1]  Edom still refused the Jewish people to pass
through their land."

Rebbetzin Hinda paused so that the words could take effect on her
husband's troubled mind.  Then at the right moment she went on.

"Yes, 'Bamisila,' which is an acronym for our five sons: Berish,
Moshe, Sender [Alexander], Lipa and Hirsh.  Bamisila - this is
the path we will take to Gan Eden, my dear husband, and we are
going on our pathway to Heaven by honor of them."

As for the dynasties of Ziditchov, Rozdol and Komarno (all five
generations), they were not generally known for their niggunim;
rather, they had the same nusach [3] as Reb Hershele, the same
understanding of Torah and kabbalah, and avodah (service to G-d)
as he.  Yet every rebbe descended from Reb Hershele, to this day,
davens with that same angelic approach and carries that song of
the eternal flame in his heart and soul.  And why not?  As it is
said, "As the fuel, so is the fire." [4]
_______________________________

Footnotes

1.   Died 1837.
2.   Bamidbar XX Hukkath.
3.   A term applied to varying manners of carrying out prayers in
     different Jewish communities.
4.   Ben Sira 1: 22.

--
Yosef Kazen  - yyk (at) dorsai(dot)dorsai(dot)org

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Topic No. 6