Two Sale Deeds of an Asset of the Be'er Mayim Chaim in Botoşani (After his Death in Eretz Israel) – Signed by his ...

Two Sale Deeds of an Asset of the Be'er Mayim Chaim in Botoşani (After his Death in Eretz Israel) – Signed by his Sons Rabbi Yaakov Yosef and Rabbi Kalman Thirer, and Three Grandsons – Kałusz, 1815 / Botoşani, 1818

Two sale deeds, transfer of ownership of a residence in Botoşani (formerly owned by R. Chaim Thirer Rabbi of Czernowitz, author of Be'er Mayim Chaim, before his immigration to Eretz Israel). Signed by family members of the Be'er Mayim Chaim: His son R. Yaakov Yosef and the latter's wife, Shifra Reiza (granddaughter of the Degel Machane Efraim), his son R. Kalman, and three grandsons (sons of his daughter Devora, widow of R. Yitzchak Eizek of Botoşani). Kałusz (Eastern-Galicia) and Botoşani (Moldavia), Av 1815 and Nissan 1818.
These deeds reveal new information regarding the year of passing of the Be'er Mayim Chaim (see below), and hitherto unknown information about his family.
• Sale deed, transfer of ownership of the residence in Botoşani belonging to R. Yaakov Yosef Yoske, son of the Be'er Mayim Chaim, to his brother-in-law R. Yitzchak Eizek son of R. David, son-in-law of the Be'er Mayim Chaim (the residence was formerly owned by the Be'er Mayim Chaim, and in 1813, he gave it as a gift to this son who resided in Kałusz – see below). Signed by him: "Yaakov Yosef son of R. Chaim", and by his wife: "Shufra[!] Reiza daughter of R. Yitzchak" (daughter of R. Yitzchak of Kałusz, son of the Degel Machane Efraim), by his brother R. Kalman, son of the Be'er Mayim Chaim: "Kalman Thirer son of the late rabbi of Mohyliv", and by four witnesses. Kałusz, 4th Menachem Av 1815.
The deed was written on 4th Menachem Av in Kałusz, where R. Yaakov Yosef resided, whereas the signature of his brother R. Kalman is from 16th Menachem Av in Botoşani, his place of residence. Written before R. Kalman's signature: "For greater force, also the brothers of R. Yaakov Yosef signed – Tuesday, 16th Menachem 1815". In fact, only one brother signed the deed.
[1] leaf (two written pages). Bluish paper. Approx. 34 cm. Good condition. Stains and wear. Folding marks.
• Sale deed, transfer of ownership of the aforementioned residence of R. Yitzchak Eizek son of R. David (son-in-law of the Be'er Mayim Chaim) to R. Elisha son of R. Alexander Zussman. Signed by the three heirs, sons of R. Yitzchak Eizek: R. Moshe Yehuda Leib, R. Aharon and R. Meshulam Feivel Tzvi Hirsh, by the buyer R. Elisha Zussman, and by four witnesses and three Botoşani dayanim. Botoşani, 2nd Adar II 1818.
The sale deed contains the heirs' declaration that the sale has been executed after "we have paid our mother Rebbetzin Devorah all her entitlements from her ketubah". On verso, the Botoşani dayanim write that since the sellers have young brothers who have not yet reached the age of 13, part of the money will be kept by a trustee, and when the orphans become of age, each will receive his share in his father's estate.
[1] leaf (two written pages). 54.5 cm. High-quality thick paper. Good condition. Stains. Folding mark.
The residence sold with these deeds had been owned by the Be'er Mayim Chaim. In Sivan 1813, before he immigrated to the Holy Land, he wrote a gift deed to his sons R. Yaakov Yosef and R. Kalman, giving them his assets in Botoşani as a gift (the gift deed was first publicized in Kedem Auction 63, item 81).
Both deeds delineate the borders of the asset from all four directions and the names of the Jewish and non-Jewish neighbors who live adjacent to the asset. In the first deed, from 1815, it is written that the residence sold to R. Yitzchak Eizek borders on the residence of his brother-in-law Kalman, and that each has permission to pass through the other's courtyard: "…on the east lies the home of my brother R. Kalman Shmuel… and it was explicitly stipulated that R. Kalman son of R. Chaim can pass through the aforementioned courtyard, and that R. Y.E. can pass through the courtyard of R. Kalman". The second deed, from 1818, contains many details of the conditions and limitations imposed upon the asset being sold (which was situated within a compound which also housed the study hall of the Be'er Mayim Chaim, sukkahs and other buildings). In this deed as in the previous deed, "our uncle R. Kalonymus Kalman" is mentioned several times.
R. Yaakov Yosef Yoske Thirer (d. 1866, Encyclopedia L'Chassidut, II, p. 272), was the son-in-law of R. Yitzchak of Kałusz (son of the Degel Machane Efraim). According to the Encyclopedia L'Chassidut (ibid), after the immigration of his father, the Be'er Mayim Chaim, to Eretz Israel in 1813, R. Yaakov Yosef succeeded him as leader of the Chassidim in Czernowitz (Chernivtsi); however, as is evident from the first deed presented here, in 1815, R. Yaakov Yosef still resided in Kałusz, near his father-in-law.
In his youth (ca. late 1790s), R. Kalonymus Kalman Shmuel Thirer wed Yocheved, daughter of the elderly Rebbe Avraham Yehoshua Heshel of Apta, author of Ohev Yisrael. With time, Kalman forsook Torah observance and consequently divorced his wife (who later married Rebbe Dan of Radvil). Nonetheless, his father, the Be'er Mayim Chaim, did not cease loving him, and would send him gifts, would rise early to prepare for him food and drink, and never refused any of his requests.
The book Beit Komarna relates that this Kalman resided for several years in Komarna, where he succumbed to negative influences. In 1801, R. Chaim came in person to Komarna to visit his son, and found him in a pub suffused with the steam of non-kosher food, playing cards, with sweat pouring down his face. R. Chaim wiped the sweat from his face with his handkerchief, kissed him on his forehead, and encouraged him to leave Komarna and return with him to Czernowitz. As they were exiting Komarna, residents threw stones at them, and R. Chaim inadvertently uttered a curse, that the city should be burnt. They had not yet left the city borders when a fire broke out, consuming all the houses. It further relates that R. Chaim was known to say that his son's deterioration was a heaven-sent test to see if he would continue loving him, since he always pled for the Jewish people, arguing: "Master of the Universe, and if Your sons sin, will You not have mercy on them? After all, even if they sin, they are still Your sons!". He was therefore tested by G-d with a corrupted son, whether he would continue loving him and having mercy on him (Beit Komarna, by R. Baruch Yashar Schlichter, Jerusalem 1965, pp. 16-17). Rebbe David Moshe of Tchorkov explained R. Chaim's conduct with his son as a basis for advocating before G-d, that if he, as a human being, continues loving his wayward son, so G-d should have mercy on His sons, who in all circumstances are called His children (Anaf Etz Avot, Jerusalem 1972, p. 204).
The gift deed featured in Auction 63 demonstrates the love R. Chaim and his wife extended to their son Kalman, bequeathing to him half of their property in the city, a share equal to the one of his brother R. Yosef Yaakov. The deeds here attest that not only his holy father, but also his brother and nephews treated him with love and respect. His brother and nephews refer to him several times in the deeds in a respectful manner, although these are just formal documents (the document from 1818 was possibly never seen by R. Kalman, since it does not bear his signature).

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Discovery: The Year of the Be'er Mayim Chaim's Passing

The first deed presented here provides the first distinct evidence that the author of Be'er Mayim Chaim was no longer alive in the month of Av 1815. In his sons' signatures and within the text of the deed, the honorific for the deceased, "of blessed memory…", is added after his name. This contradicts the hitherto accepted date of his death – 27th Kislev 1817 (apparently, the source of this date is the unclear epitaph on his tombstone in the Safed cemetery; it is not known who wrote it and when the tombstone was erected). Moreover, his son R. Yaakov Yosef does not sign with "hareini kaparat mishkavo" (I am an atonement for his resting place) as customary during the first year after a parent's death. This suggests that on 4th Av 1815 (the date the first deed was signed), more than a year had elapsed since the passing of his father.

R. Efraim Zalman Margolies, a friend and admirer of the Be'er Mayim Chaim, wrote in 1817, in his approbation to the book Be'er Mayim Chaim (Mohyliv-Sudylkiv 1820), that the author immigrated to Eretz Israel after printing his book Sidduro shel Shabbat (Mohyliv, 1813), and within a year from his arrival there, he passed away. The writing of Sidduro shel Shabbat was concluded on 17th Sivan 1813, as stated at the end of the book, giving rise to the conclusion that he passed away in late 1813 (or in 1814). The book Zichron Tzaddikim (Klausenburg 1936, listing of 27th Kislev), by R. Pinchas Zelig HaKohen Schwartz Rabbi of Apahida, also records 1813 as the year of the Be'er Mayim Chaim's passing, providing further proof that the year of death indicated on his tombstone in Safed is incorrect.

A similar case of an erroneous epitaph occurred with the tombstone of the Be'er Mayim Chaim's friend, R. David Shlomo Eybeshutz, author of Arvei Nachal, who died in Safed in 1814. A strong earthquake in Safed in 1837 uprooted many tombstones, and some subsequently disappeared. In his book Shaarei Yerushalayim (Lviv 1866, Chapter 8), R. Moshe Reisher, a Jerusalem emissary, relates that in 1842, he found the faded tombstone of the author of Arvei Nachal, and erected a new tombstone based on the unclear text on the old tombstone. With time, the text on the new tombstone was proven erroneous – both the year of his passing and his father's name were incorrect (1810 should read 1814, and Avigdor should read Yerachmiel). It is possible that the erroneous year on the Be'er Mayim Chaim's tombstone came to be in a similar way.