Today we will discuss two great stories about a great Rabbi, Rabbi Tzvi Pesach Frank, who was the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem in the 1940s and 50s. Both stories deal with the concept of being Mezakeh et HaRabim, which is the responsibility of an individual to sometimes pass up on his own potential levels of greatness, in order to merit the masses. In the first story, Rabbi Frank called for one of the shochets/slaughterers of Jerusalem , a week or so before Rosh Hashanah, and commanded him, based on the principle that all Jews are responsible for each other, to go to Paris, France (at that time, there were no slaughter houses in Israel, the meat came from Europe). Of the shochets that had been in Paris was no longer able to be there, and they needed an immediate replacement, to ensure that they would be kosher meat to the proper standards for the holiday season. The man responded, “How can I leave Yerushalayim during the month of Elul, during the time of selichot? I have been in Jerusalem my whole life I should go into the secular atmosphere of Paris? My prayers won’t be the same. It’s a gezera that I cannot withstand. Furthermore, this is a Mitzvah that actually comes through a sin, because my mother passed away and my father is alone. He comes to me for the holidays . Now he will have nowhere to go. Therefore, as important as it is, I am not the person, and it cannot be now. If anything, I can go after the holidays.“
Rabbi Frank answered him, “The Yetzer Hara gets involved in every Mitzvah, saying, “Why me? Why now? But the Torah says that it’s you, and it’s now, and you have to go. As far as your concern about where your father will stay for the holiday, he’s invited to be my guest. And as far as your prayers, the Mitzvot, angels and defense attorneys that you will get from saving so many people from possibly not having the highest standard of Kashrut, I guarantee will be a zechut for you to have a great, wonderful year.“ And so it was that the man packed his bags and left not long after that.
The second story is more relevant to Sephardic Syrian Jewry, and especially that of Panama. What does Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank have to do with Panamanian Jewry?
A group of community Jews from Panama once came to Porat Yosef. They requested a rabbi for their Syrian community, complaining that they were very weak in Kashrut and Shabbat. They decided on choosing Rabbi Sion Levy, who was one of the best boys. He was an orphan, and he was a Gadol B‘Torah. He was very strong and powerful. and they thought he would be the perfect man. The only problem was, he did not want to go. He said he would rather starve and have no Parnasa then go to Panama, a place where he couldn’t raise his family properly. The community activists went to the president of yeshiva, Rabbi Bension Uziel, to ask him for help in convincing the young man.
Rabbi Uziel went to the chief rabbi of Jerusalem, Rabbi Tzvi Pesach Frank, and the chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Herzog, and called them together to his house.
He then asked Rabbi Sion Levy to come, and told him, "This is a Bet Din and we are commanding you, with the power of a Bet Din, that you must go to Panama.”
And he did. And the rest is history. They have the document he signed agreeing to go.
Later on in time, many different communities came to Porat Yosef seeking rabbis for their communities. But the rabbis did not want to go, so a special proclamation was written and signed by many Sephardic rabbis (Rabbi Dayan Rabbi Antebi, Rabbi Attieh, Rabbi Ades, Rabbi Raful, Hacham Ovadia Yosef Hacham Ovadia Hedaya and others). The one Ashkenazi Rabbi that signed was Rabbi Tzvi Pesach Frank. The proclamation said that the rabbis were required to leave Eretz Yisrael. It was worth it for them to give up their personal growth in order to impact the communities in the Diaspora. How unbelievable that a rabbi that is seemingly unknown to us, without any apparent impact, made a tremendous impact on our community. Who knows if Hacham Baruch would’ve ever come to our community without his psak?
My father learned with Hacham Baruch for two years. He was his student. Who knows the impact? We never know what the impact of Gedolim are, but it all comes from their Ahavat Yisrael, and their understanding of Kol Yisrael Arevim Ze LaZeh.
It’s not always about our own personal growth or how good it will be for us. Sometimes we have to ask how good it will be for the community at large?
Have a wonderful day.