The scandal of the 'Lodzer baal moifes'
A little-known chapter from 100 years ago this week.
Browsing the Jewish press from this week 100 years ago, I came upon the Jan. 2nd and Jan. 9th issues of ’Der Maszchis,’ a Yiddish language humor and satire weekly published in the early 1920s in Lodz.
As becomes fairly evident from even a brief perusal, much of the humor has a rather ‘burlesque’ quality to it.
But what caught my eye in particular was that these two issues appeared to be dedicated in great part to skewering a certain ‘R. Shayale of Strikov,’ a.k.a. the ‘Lodzer baal moifes,’ who is implied to have had his way with the women seeking his blessings.
Following are the relevant portions from the Jan. 2nd issue:
And the following appeared in the Jan. 9th issue:
There’s even a shoutout in one of the ads:
But who was this man? You may note that pg. 4 of the Jan. 2nd issue mentions a last name in small type towards the beginning, ‘R. Yeshaya Berber’.
And poking around a bit further, I found additional coverage (much of it employing the sensational nickname the ‘Yiddisher Rasputin’), shared here in chronological order:
Di Yiddishe Stime (Kovno), Jan. 5:
Der Forverts, Jan. 29th, had extensive coverage:
And here’s a close-up of his photo:
Najer Folksblat (Lodz), February 20th, with an update as to his whereabouts:
And the Hajnt (Warsaw) of the same date with additional detail:
The (Morgen) Freiheit, March 2nd, with a retelling of the allegations here.
Der Forverts, June 9th, preemptively taking credit for a supposedly impending extradition:
And Der Forverts of June 27th with a journalistic coup - a conversation with the man himself:
Dos Naje Lebn (Bialystok), October 30th, with a similar claim about looming extradition:
Di Yidische Zaitung (Argentina), Feb. 2nd, 1926, with another retelling. The same piece appears here as well.
And finally, from Der Tog, June 27th, 1927, with an update about the allegations catching up with him in Jerusalem (with an acknowledgment about midway in the 5th column that there was no extradition agreement after all):
And that is the extent of what I’ve seen in the contemporary coverage, though I’d assume there’s at least somewhat more.
So what else do we know about R. Yeshaya Berber of Strykow/Lodz? As it turns out, he’s not a complete unknown.
Here’s a thread on the Otzar forum: הרב ישעיה חנוך העניך ברבר - האדמו"ר מלאדז' זצ"ל, with details about his family and descendants.
And here’s his grave:
And to the left is his son:
And here’s his Geni page, with a fair amount of ancestors and descendants listed, and this is a MyHeritage family tree.
R. Yeshaya’s name is also tied to the publication of ‘Mei Hayam’ by R. Yechiel Meir of Gostynin:
And see here regarding a bibliographic curiosity concerning this very page.
And here’s a copy featuring his stamp:
And here are some relevant pages from the edition published by his son:
Somewhat interesting reference here (in the context of explaining the scarcity of the sefer) to his father’s abrupt departure from Poland for Jerusalem.
[Note that this son was born in Jerusalem in the aftermath of this entire episode; the online family trees give his birth year as 1930 (and his father’s as 1870), and he makes reference earlier to being less than three years old at his father’s passing. A sister’s birth year is given as 1932; a half sister’s is given as 1908. The contemporary coverage above raises questions about his father’s marital history].
In conclusion, I will highlight the following passage from Der Tog’s 1927 report, which seeks to differentiate between ‘two sorts of Rebbes’:
P.S. Here’s a report in Der Forverts of September 2nd, 1926, concerning another fellow, using similar ‘Rasputin’ framing:
Wow