Valdemārpils / Sassmacken
Known by the name R. Moshe Itzl Ponevezher.
Born in approximately 5587 (1827) in the city of Raseiniai.1) A student of R. Eliyahu of Ragola and Kalisz.
In his youth he served here as rabbi in Valdemarfils. Afterward he served in the rabbinate in many cities (Krottingen, Goldingen, Libau, Tauroggen, Ponevezh, Švekšna, Plungyan, and Augustow).
He passed away on holy Shabbat, Torah portion of Kedoshim, 6 Iyyar 5630 (7 May 1870) in the city of Augustow, his last rabbinate (where he served as rabbi for only about one year).
Some of his novellae on tractate Berakhot were printed in tractate Berakhot, Stettin edition 5620 (and in tractate Berakhot, Berlin–Warsaw 5623), and in the book Keter HaMelekh (Warsaw 5656) of his son-in-law R. Katriel Aharon Natan, who writes in the introduction that he brings in his book many novellae from his father-in-law that he found written in the margins of his copy of the Rambam and from what he heard from him in person. Also in the book of his grandson Chidushei Yechiel, vol. 2 (Vilna 5692), was printed “the remaining remnant of the Torah of my grandfather, the Gaon R. Moshe Yitzchak Revel, of blessed memory — homily, halakha, approbations.”
Chidushei Yechiel (Vilna 5692), at its beginning; in vol. 2 the text of his tombstone was printed. Augustow — Sefer Kehilla, p. 94. At length about him: Echad BaDoro (Tel Aviv 5730), pp. 181 ff.; Rabboteinu SheBaGolah, vol. 2, p. 257.
His tombstone in the cemetery of Augustow:
From Žemaitija, a shoot went forth for glory and splendor; \
its delight — Courland grew great as a beauty and crown. \
Woe, woe, shall Plungen cry, for the grave has been dug; \
together over Moshe nine congregations shall wail. \
A flock he led for fifty years beside streams of salvation; \
fear shall seize every man — the breaking is great as the sea. \
Holy one of Jacob, his pride, his joy and gladness, desire of all eyes; \
at sixty-three — woe, the sun has set at noon. \
From a place of trouble and affliction, toil and plague, he went to rest; \
he forgot his ship in the midst of a stormy, raging sea. \
He remembered not the nest of his fledglings left without shelter; \
how great is your breaking, O daughter of Jacob — until this day it breathes. \
H(owl) for the afflicted, for your comforter is gone; \
(give no) rest — every one hard of day, every one bitter of soul. \
Torah and Mitzvah wept: your redeemer is gone, \
your beloved, your only one, who guarded you like the pupil of an eye. \
His memory — who will not bless? For who did not know him? \
The sweetness of his honey and milk — who did not taste it? \
Whose heart did he not gladden? Who will not praise him? \
He learned and taught, illumined and enlightened, until he went and was no more. \
He turned many from iniquity, wrought souls, selah; \
he did wonders, stood as a banner, until he was gathered to the tent. \
He is: our master, teacher, and rabbi, the great Gaon, minister of Torah, \
Light of the Exile, Lamp of Israel, Pillar of Right, the Strong Hammer, Knower of Secrets, \
renowned in all corners of the earth in his Torah and righteousness — our holy master \
Moshe Yitzchak, son of the Rabbi our master Meshulam Zalman HaLevi, of blessed memory. \
He ascended on high on holy Shabbat night, 6 Iyyar, 21st of the Omer count, year 5630.
Latvia and Rabbis