Yosef Yosfa The Spanish Tzadik

Yosef Yosfa, a Spanish Jew, was a great scholar and pious man. Shortly after the Spanish Inquisition he arrived in Cracow, Poland, and became widely respected by the Jews there. Although he was 50 years old, he was unmarried.

For 30 years Yosef Yosfa lived by himself in Cracow. One day, a man from Cracow was killed during a business trip to Prague. He left behind him a young widow but no children. When a man dies childless, if he has a brother, the brother is required to conduct a special ceremony called "chalitza" to permit the wife to remarry. It was the custom in Cracow for this ceremony to be a community event, after which the wife was blessed by the rabbi that she remarry soon and have children.

Five months passed. Yosef Yosfa, known throughout the past 30 years in Cracow as "the Spanish Tzadik," came to the Rabbinical Court and told them that he wished to marry the widow if she was in agreement. Yosef Yosfa explained to the Rabbincial Court that he had never intended to marry, but due to various reasons he now wished to marry.

When the Rabbinical Court called for the young woman, they were shocked to see her burst into tears as soon as she arrived in the study hall, even before she knew the reason for her summons.

Tearfully she explained that she had had a dream many times recently in which her beloved, deceased father appeared to her. She was not sure if she should place any credence in the dream and, seeing as the Rabbis had called her, she would like to ask them advice.

"In my first dream, my father appeared to me dressed in his finest Sabbath clothes. He placed his hands on my head to bless me and said, 'I wish you mazel tov for it has been ordained that you marry the Spanish Tzadik Yosef Yosfa.' I awoke from my dream," continued the young woman, "and was shaking. After I calmed down, I paid it no attention."

The woman continued, explaining that the same dream had repeated itself, but again she put it out of her mind. The third time she dreamt of her father, however, it was different. "He looked very serious and told me that there was no way out. It had been decided in Heaven that I marry the Spanish Tzadik. 'If you listen,' my father told me, 'you will be blessed with an extraordinary son. But if you refuse, you will come to a bitter end.'

"This dream recurred three more times and finally I decided to come to you and ask you for your holy advice. Immediately upon making my decision to visit the honored rabbis, your shamash arrived and told me that I had been summoned before you," the young woman concluded.

The rabbis looked at eachother in astonishment. They told the widow that Yosef Yosfa had come to them and told them that he wanted to marry her. It was now more than clear that it was G-d's will that the widow marry the Spanish Tzadik. The marriage was arranged and the entire community of Cracow participated in the joyous celebration. This was no ordinary wedding.

Two years later, the couple was blessed with a son whom Yosef Yosfa named Eliyahu, after Eliyahu HaNavi-Elijah the Prophet. When Eliyahu was two years old, Yosef Yosfa began to teach him Torah. Yosef Yosfa remained Eliyahu's private Torah teacher and Eliyahu was an assiduous student.

Father and son studied thus until a short time before Eliyahu's Bar Mitzva. At that time, Yosef Yosfa told his wife that he was about to pass on. He informed her that after his Bar Mitzva, their son would tell her that he wanted to go into the world to continue his Torah studies. Yosef Yosfa implored his wife not to discourage him from leaving; his soul had come into the world to accomplish a special mission and he would need to wander and learn from many masters in order to fulfill this mission.

Yosef Yosfa revealed something further to his wife that he had not revealed to anyone. When her first husband had been killed nearly 15 years earlier, he - Yosef Yosfa - had received a Divine command to marry her, for a child with a very lofty soul would be born to them. This child would have a special mission to fulfill for the Jewish people and would help and uplift them.

"During the decade of Torah study that our son studied together with me, Eliyahu HaNavi himself has been studying with our son to prepare him for this mission." Eliyahu was to be the first in a long line of tzadikim who would lead the Jewish people to the coming of Moshiach.

Yosef Yosfa breathed his last breaths and passed away. A few weeks after Eliyahu's Bar Mitzva, he told his mother that he wished to go out into the world.

Forty years later, in the year 5350 (1590) a great Torah scholar, teacher, and tzadik appeared in the city of Worms, Germany. His name was Eliyahu. Rabbi Eliyahu, who became renown as Rabbi Eliyahu Baal Shem, established a yeshiva in Worms where he taught Jewish mystical teachings, particularly the Zohar, in addition to the Talmud.

Rabbi Eliyahu Baal Shem was the first in a long line of great tzadikim who have prepared the Jewish people and the world for the coming of Moshiach. Rabbi Eliyahu was succeeded by his disciple, Rabbi Yoel Baal Shem, then by Rabbi Adam Baal Shem, who was succeeded by his disciple, Rabbi Yisroel, the famous Baal Shem Tov, founder of Chasidism.