The Promise

Rabbi Shimshon Chaim, known as the Zera Shimshon, was born in 1707 in Modena, Italy. His father was a distinguished Torah scholar, and his maternal grandfather was R’ Yehudah Matzliach, Rav of Modena. In his youth, he learned under a number of great gedolim and mekubalim. A close disciple of the Or HaChaim HaKadosh, Rabbi Shimshon Chaim was a major rabbinical figure in the flourishing Torah community in Italy during his lifetime.

In the last few centuries, Italy had become the primary center for Hebrew publishing and that attracted many chachamim to come to the region in order to advance the publication of fundamental works of Torah.

R’ Shimshon Chaim was greatly influenced by R’ Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707-1746), author of the well-known Mesilas Yesharim; and R’ Chaim Yosef Dovid Azulai, the renowned Chidah (1724-1806).

R’ Shimshon Chaim is known to have been rav in a number of communities in Italy, among them Pisa and Mantova. Toward the end of his life, he was rav in Reggio. It is recorded that on Tisha B’Avhe tripped on a rock and fell on his face. He lay ill for close to a month and was niftar on 6 Elul, 5539/Aug. 18, 1779. His exact burial place is unknown, as decades later the bodies in the beis hachaim were exhumed and relocated to another burial place.

Rabbi Shimshon Chaim was only blessed with one son, who passed on at a young age. With no continuity of his family, Rabbi Shimshon Chaim let it be known that his sefarim would be dedicated to carry on his legacy with the name Zera Shimshon, imparting unique insights and profound lessons to all of Klal Yisrael. In the preface to his writings, the Zera Shimshon beseeches people to study his books and he promises that those who do so will be granted family, life, wealth and honor in that merit. Indeed, anecdotal evidence of simchas and yeshuos that people have been experiencing is remarkable, just as the author affirms. His writings on Torah and the five megillos were published one year before his petirah. His divrei Torah on Tehillim and Pirkei Avos were published later.

At his levaya, the Zera Shimshon was revered as the Sage of the generation, not only for his erudition of Torah, but for his boundless love for the Jewish people. The major rabbanim in his generation wrote extraordinary tributes lauding his honor and wisdom, among them the Chidah who testified on his Kedusha, wisdom and knowledge of Kabbalah. R’ Yisroel Binyamin Basan, rav in Reggio-Emilia, spoke of R’ Shimshon Chaim’s great love for all his brethren and his overwhelming yearning to enhance their avodas Hashem.

Additional works of the Zera Shimshon have been discovered including HaOtzar Halachos, a sefer of responsa, commentaries on various prayers, as well as piyutim (liturgical poems) for Yomim Tovim and various occasions (including one written in honor of the marriage of R’ Moshe Chaim Luzzatto to the daughter of his rebbi, R’ Fintzi). One tefillah of note that has recently gained popularity is a supplication recited before the blowing of the shofar.

In observance of the yahrzeit of the Zera Shimshon on6 Elul, we have dedicated the following dvar Torah from his writings.

“… Make yourself a fiery serpent and place it on a pole, and it will be that anyone who was bitten will look at it and live” (Bamidbar 21:8).

The Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 29a) asks concerning this event: Did the serpent kill, or did the serpent preserve life? The explanation is given that when the Jewish people looked upward and subjected themselves to their Father in Heaven, they were healed, but if not, they died.

To expound on this concept, the Zera Shimshon cites the Talmud (Brachos 33a)which teaches that if one is in the midst of his prayers, even if a snake is wrapped around his heel, he may not interrupt his prayer. However, our Sages note that this is only with regard to a snake, because if one does not threaten the snake, it will not bite him and will eventually uncoil and not harm the individual. The Shulchan Aruch (104)clarifies that if the snake is poised to strike, though, then one should immediately move from his place.

The Talmud then tells of R’ Chanina ben Dosa who was called to help in a city where its inhabitants were being injured by a snake. When R’ Chanina saw the snake emerging from its hole, he placed his heel over the mouth of the hole. The snake bit him and died. R’ Chanina then brought the snake on his shoulders to the beis medrash and announced: It is not the snake that kills, but the transgression that kills.

The Zera Shimshon notes that R’ Chanina was accustomed to experiencing miracles, and therefore he did not fear the bite of the snake. However, asks the Zera Shimshon, what was original about R’ Chanina’s remark that it is sin that kills. We already know from Koheles (10:11)that the snake derives no benefit when it bites a person.

The Zera Shimshon explains that herein lies a fundamental concept regarding the service of Hashem. He notes that there are individuals who have difficulty overcoming the yetzer hara. In fact, if they are challenged by the evil inclination, they immediately surrender because they believe that the confrontation itself is an indication that they cannot be successful. R’ Chanina established that the snake only harms someone who has transgressed. Moreover, if the snake attempts to injure someone who successfully triumphed over the yetzer hara and did not transgress, then the snake is immediately obliterated.

R’ Brudyinski, the mashgiach of Kol Torah, was traveling with a taxi driver, who related the following story about an experience he had in the army.

“A number of non-religious chayalim were standing together in a field, when suddenly I saw a snake winding around the foot of my fellow soldier. He realized that any slight movement would cause the snake to fatally bite him.

“My friend called out: ‘Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad,’and he promised that if he would be saved, he would do complete teshuvah.

“Immediately, the snake uncoiled and slithered away, and my friend became a sincere chozer b’teshuvah.”

R’ Brudyinski asked the driver, “And how about you, who witnessed this?”

The taxi driver answered, “The snake was wrapped around my friend’s foot, not mine.”

R’ Brudyinski exclaimed: “Woe is to the person who waits for nisyonos.”