The Baal Shem of Michelstadt zt"l

 

Rav Yitzchok Arye Zekel Leib of Worms zt"l

            Baal Shem of Michelstadt

            

 Tishrei 3, 5608 / 1847

A special article about the Baal Shem of Michelstadt is featured (as a Miracle Worker even in our days) in the current issue of MISHPACHA Magazine (R"H Issue)

(Some say 4 Tishrei)

Rav Yitzchok Arye Zekel Leib was born in 5528 in Michelstadt, in the Erbach county of Hessen, Germany. A scion of the Luria Ashkenazi familes, he was a fourth-generation descendant of Rav Eliyohu Ba’al Shem of Worms (21 Tammuz), and descended from the Maharshal, Arizal, Rashi and Ba’alei Tosfos.

Rav Mattisyohu (5489/1729–5562/1802) was a cloth merchant in Michelstadt and his mother Sorel’eh was niftar in 5551/1791. Zekel Leib was the eighth of a family of ten children, boys and girls, some of whom passed away in childhood; he lived to the oldest age and survived them all.

FAMILY GENEALOGY

The family name was originally Mattes and was later changed to Wormzer by the government authorities in (1808) תקס"ח. The reason for this was that his great grandfather, Yitzchok Zeklin Eichel Luntsch, who passed away in the year (1710) ת"ע, lived for many years in Worms and served there as dayan. Rav Yitzchok Zeklin’s father was named Rav Moshe Baruch Elsass and perhaps the family originally came from Elsass (Alsace?), later moving to Worms and from there to Michelstadt.

Rav Zekel Leib’s grandfather was Rav Yaakov of Michelstadt. He passed away (1758) תקי"ח. His grandmother was Yettle. She passed away (1755) תקטו. She was the daughter of Rav Mattisyahu Ahrweiler who served as rav of Bingen and afterwards as rav of the kloiz in Mannheim and finally in Heidelberg. He passed away  (1728) תפ"ח. Rav Mattisyahu’s father was Rav Hertz Ahrweiler, a dayan in Frankfurt. He passed away in (1678) תל"ח.

Rav Yaakov of Michelstadt was a descendant of Rav Eliyahu of Luntsch who was known as the Baal Shem of Worms (1564-1636) שכ"ד-שצ"ו. Rav Eliyahu  served as rav in the following kehillos: Worms, Fulda, Hanau, Mainz, Friedberg and finally Worms again. He was a gadol in both the revealed and hidden aspects of Torah and authored a number of seforim including: Rinas Dodim on Shir Hashirim, Michlal Yofi on Koheles, glosses on the Semag, and Vichuch Yayin Im Mayim. Among his unpublished manuscripts was Aderes Eliyahu on the Zohar.

Rav Eliyahu Baal Shem’s grandfather was the famed Rav Yosselman of Rossheim (1478-1554)  רל"ח-שי"ד. Rav Yosselman’s mother descended from the Luria family who traced their lineage back to Shlomo Shapira from Speyer--  (1375) קל"ה --and Rashi.