Yossele the Holy Miser was a

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

who lived in the

Kazimierz Kazimierz (; la, Casimiria; yi, קוזמיר, Kuzimyr) is a historical district of Kraków and Kraków Old Town, Poland. From its inception in the 14th century to the early 19th century, Kazimierz was an independent city, a royal city of the ...

Jewish quarter of

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

in the 17th century. His apparent stinginess but hidden generosity is at the center of a well-known tale of

Jewish folklore Jewish folklore are legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales, stories, tall tales, and customs that are the traditions of Judaism. Folktales are characterized by the presence of unusual personages, by the sud ...

that speaks to one of the highest levels of ''

tzedakah ''Tzedakah'' or ''Ṣedaqah'' ( he, צדקה ) is a Hebrew word meaning "righteousness", but commonly used to signify '' charity''. This concept of "charity" differs from the modern Western understanding of "charity". The latter is typically u ...

'' (charity) in the Jewish tradition: giving anonymously. The Holy Miser's tombstone can be found in the Remah Cemetery of Kraków next to the grave of the renowned Rabbi

Yom-Tov Lipmann Heller Rabbi Gershon Shaul Yom-Tov Lipmann ben Nathan ha-Levi Heller (c. 157919 August 1654), was a Bohemian rabbi and Talmudist, best known for writing a commentary on the Mishnah called the ''Tosefet Yom-Tov'' (1614–1617). Heller was one of the major ...

Jewish folktale

According to the general outline of the

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess ...

, the richest Jew in Kraków in the 17th century was Yossele the

Miser A miser is a person who is reluctant to spend, sometimes to the point of forgoing even basic comforts and some necessities, in order to hoard money or other possessions. Although the word is sometimes used loosely to characterise anyone who ...

. He was known by this title because in the community he was reviled for his stinginess and refusal to contribute to ''tzedakah'' (charity) despite his great wealth. When the Miser died, the townspeople who long despised him refused to bury his body for several days. Out of scorn, they eventually buried him in the back of the cemetery, an area normally reserved for paupers and other societal outcasts. Within a week of the Miser's death, strange occurrences began to unfold in the town. All the poor began beseeching the local

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

for money because the weekly allowances they had regularly been receiving from an anonymous benefactor had ceased arriving. Eventually, the rabbi realized that Yossele was the source of these charitable donations and in fact, the notorious miser was a great ''

Tzadik Tzadik ( he, צַדִּיק , "righteous ne, also ''zadik'', ''ṣaddîq'' or ''sadiq''; pl. ''tzadikim'' ''ṣadiqim'') is a title in Judaism given to people considered righteous, such as biblical figures and later spiritual masters. The ...

'' (righteous man). In fact, a word "haTzadik" (The tzadik) was appended to the inscription on the stone. Immediately, the rabbi commanded the entire town to converge on Yossele's grave and beg for forgiveness. And on the tombstone which read "Yossele the Miser," the rabbi added the word '' HaTzadik''—the Righteous One. According to the story, the rabbi involved was the famed sage

, who requested to be buried next to the Holy Miser. This is understood as the reason why the grave of the venerated Rabbi Yom-Tov is found at the back of the

Remuh Cemetery The Old Jewish Cemetery of Kraków ( pl, Stary cmentarz żydowski w Krakowie), more commonly known as the Remah Cemetery ( pl, Cmentarz Remuh), is a historic necropolis established in the years 1535–1551, and one of the oldest existing Jewish ...

next to Yossele today. The tale underlines one of the highest forms of ''tzedakah'' according to the pre-eminent Jewish philosopher

Maimonides Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Tora ...

— giving anonymously.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite web , url=http://www.aish.com/atr/a/?category=Giving+to+others%2C+getting+repaid , title=Giving to others, getting repaid: Lessons In Giving , publisher=Aish HaTorah , access-date=3 September 2011 {{cite book , title=Holy brother: inspiring stories and enchanted tales about Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach , last=Halberstam Mandelbaum , first=Yitta , year=2004 , pages=156–160 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MTUnm0_b_3cC&pg=PA156 , isbn=978-0-7657-5959-7 {{cite book , title=Houses of life: Jewish cemeteries of Europe , last1=Jacobs , first1=Joachim , last2=Dietrich Beyer , first2=Hans , year=2008 , page=96 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X7qns_b0hzEC&pg=PA96 , isbn=978-0-7112-2648-7 {{cite book , title=The great Jewish cities of Central and Eastern Europe: a travel guide and resource book to Prague, Warsaw, Crakow, and Budapest , last=Valley , first=Eli , year=1999 , pages=336–337 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VEMRk7liW5UC&pg=PA336 , isbn=978-0-7657-6000-5

External links

* Audio
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach tells the story of Yossele The Holy Miser
* Audio
Rabbi David Cooper version of Yosele the Holy Miser
17th-century Polish Jews People from Kraków Jewish folklore Polish folklore