Itche Der Masmid - Biography

Yitzchok Horowitz, more commonly known as Reb Itche der Masmid, was a famous Orthodox Rabbi in pre-war Europe. Specifically, he served as a Mashpia, Hasidic mentor of the Chabad movement. He was born to Shlomo Menachem Mendel and Elka Horowitz in the city of Bereznehuvate, in the Kherson Governorate. Jewish agricultural settlement in the Kherson area had been initiated and encouraged by the second Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Dovber Schneuri.

Refinement of character

Reb Itche earned the appellation "Masmid" (which refers to a highly assiduous Talmid Chacham, Torah scholar) in his early youth, when he would intensively study until very late at night. He continued this assiduity throughout his life. He struggled to refine himself in a superhuman way that aroused wonder in all who saw him.

It was said that he attained the level of Beinoni described in the classic Hasidic text of the Tanya, one whose every thought, speech, and action is consistent with the Code of Jewish Law. He despised all the material narcissistic pleasures of the world,[(others attribute the following to Rabbi Avrohom Elye Axelrod) and said when visiting Manhattan (and seeing all the skyscrapers), "Di ofanim hoben do gut gekakt" ("The angels really relieved themselves here"--hinting at the idea discussed in Chasidic philosophy that materiality is literally an excrement of the spiritual worlds)].

It was his custom to pray for many hours, according to the Chabad tradition of prayer. However, he surpassed his colleagues by praying until five in the afternoon!

Public role

He served as an emissary (shliach) of the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Sholom Dov Ber Schneersohn (the Rebbe Rashab), and of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn (the Rebbe Rayatz). He traveled throughout Europe and encourage the Hasidim and other Jews he met to increase in their devotion to Judaism and the Hasidic lifestyle.

Communist persecution

In 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution broke out in Russia, and after some time, virtually any kind of formal Jewish education was outlawed by the new Bolshevik regime. Anyone committing this "crime" was in danger of imprisonment and execution, and many young rabbis suffered this fate. Reb Itche continued his work to strengthen Jewish observance despite this danger, and survived this period.

Wider Influence

His influence reached outside the ranks of the Chabad hasidic circle as well, most notably to Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler of the Musar movement, leading Dessler to include many ideas from Hasidic philosophy in his writings.

Demise

He was slain by the Nazis on 10 Kislev, 5702 (30 November 1941). They brought him and numerous other Jews into a synagogue, poured gasoline on it, and set it ablaze, burning everyone alive.