Highlighting: “Reb Meilech on the Haggadah” by Yisroel Besser. Mesorah Publications Ltd. 2023. Hardcover. 250 pages. ISBN-13: 978-1422633045.
(Courtesy of ArtScroll) Twenty years ago, he was a yungerman in Ponevezh, known more for diligence than his oratory prowess, a scion of the rebbes of Lelov who reflected the energy and joy of his ancestors. Some American bachurim, students, in the Slabodka Yeshiva discovered the 30-something-year-old Rav Elimelech Biderman and formed a private chabura, class, with him. They started eating Shabbos seudos at his home, speaking to him in learning and about life, and found that interactions with him left them feeling rejuvenated, a bit better about themselves.
When one of the chabura members continued on to Mir, he missed the weekly shmuess, talks, and so he asked Reb Meilech to start coming up to Yerushalayim as well. On Thursday nights, a chabura was formed near the Mirrer Yeshiva in Yerushalayim, a small group gathering in the apartment that had once belonged to Rav Shloim’ke Zhviller, one of the great tzaddikim of Yerushalayim—and a great-grandfather of Reb Meilech, who is married to the daughter of the Zutchker Rebbe, himself a son-in-law of Ray Mordechai of Zhvil, grandson of Ray Shloim’ke.
The Torah of Reb Meilech seemed to come from a place without boundaries, a rush of Halacha, chassidus and Kabbalah, classic mussar and drush, stories and lomdus (learning). The people responded to his message, their hearts captured by his vision of what a Yid is, how precious every small tenua, move, that a Yid makes is, how beloved each Yid is to the Master of the universe. They found strength and courage in the steady, continuous flow of emunah that came forth, learning not just to accept, but to appreciate, to revel in the challenges and joyfully triumph.
Over the last two decades, Reb Meilech’s voice has spread, with derashos, speeches, delivered in both Yiddish and Hebrew in Meah Shearim or the Ponevezher Kollel, in a yeshiva for Americans, at a Tel Aviv “chabura” of secular high-tech entrepreneurs, at the famed Sephardic Yazdim beit haknesset, and in small neighborhood shuls. Clips and translations of his weekly shiurim are lifting neshamos, souls, across the world. His reach and impact have grown, but he himself remains the same, without a formal beis medrash, yeshiva or kollel, without organizations or websites, dancing through life, from the deepest corners of his beloved Meron to side rooms at the Itzkowitz Shtieblach in Bnei Brak.
He is hard to pin down, his days a trail of tefillah and chizuk: in hospital wards, offering words of hope, at a shiva home telling mourners that the sun will rise again, in the center of a throbbing circle at the wedding of someone who didn’t have it easy, adding new dimensions of simcha. He can be standing on a Bnei Brak street corner listening to the suffering of an individual or hidden away in the back of an out-of-the-way beis medrash, humming by an open Gemara.
That’s the schedule—Torah, chizuk, emunah, simcha, little particles of life flowing from him to others, giving them a new burst of chiyus, life.
He is restoring the pride, the innate joy, the valor that comes with being a Yid. When he is dancing on the table, the wall of people around him soaring along with him, together they are reaching higher, dreaming of more, celebrating what they have.
This is the call of Rav Meilech Biderman and this is the call of a brand new Haggadah published by ArtScroll, the lyrics of a whole year becoming a full-throated song on the night of Pesach. Written by bestselling author Yisroel Besser, there is a theme that runs through the pages of “Reb Meilech on the Haggadah,” and it is one of clarity, courage and, most of all, freedom—the freedom of becoming His.
Becoming His, and understanding that He is ours as well.
He is watching; He is listening; He is waiting; and He is cherishing each word we say.
Reb Meilech has touched all of klal Yisrael with his messages of chizuk, uplifting us and bringing us hope; filling us with confidence that we can make good things better.
“Reb Meilech on the Haggadah” brings his message of emunah and hope to our Seder table.
Reb Meilech will enliven our Seder as only he can, with beautiful divrei Torah, delightful stories, and wise insights. This Haggadah will fill your home with Reb Meilech’s unique brand of simcha, the happiness of being part of klal Yisrael, the joy of becoming aware of Hashem’s gifts all around and the delight of knowing how much our Creator loves us and takes pleasure in all the good things we do.
