Have you heard of the 27 Club? A dubious club whose members are famous singers who all died at the age of 27? Well, we Jews — to note the difference — have the 38 Club. Giants who changed the face of Judaism and all passed away at the age of 38. The holy Ari, whose yahrzeit falls today, is one of them.
The American 27 Club counts among its members the legendary Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, frontman of The Doors, Brian Jones, founder of the Rolling Stones, blues singer Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain, the living spirit of Nirvana, and the singer Amy Winehouse. Most of them died from drugs and alcohol.
And now, with every possible distinction you please, let us move on to our truly honorable club:
Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, the holy Ari, the Ramchal, Shmuel Chaim Landau. All of them passed away at the age of 38.
At times it is hard to grasp. We picture Rabbi Nachman of Breslov with a white beard and eyes aged by decades of life’s wisdom — but no. When they spread their teachings to the public, they were almost children by today’s standards. Their teachings remain relevant to this day and are studied by millions of Jews.
The holy Ari: one of the greatest kabbalists of all time. His school of Kabbalah became the most widespread in the Jewish world and triggered messianic upheavals that gave birth to Sabbateanism and to Hasidism. The Ari’s Kabbalah is studied in wide circles to this very day. He is buried in Safed.
The Ramchal: Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, author of ‘Mesillat Yesharim’ (The Path of the Just) and dozens of other books. Mesillat Yesharim is regarded as a formative work and is considered to this day a foundational book in wide circles. Remarkably, he influenced many streams that were bitterly hostile to one another, yet all found themselves drawn to his outlook — Hasidim, Lithuanians, the Mussar movement, maskilim, and Rav Kook as well. Bialik wrote of him: “He is the founding father of the three great study houses — of the Vilna Gaon, of the Baal Shem Tov, and of Moses Mendelssohn. In the soil of his planting lie the roots of our literature’s development in all its main paths.” He is buried in Kafr Yasif in the Galilee.
Rabbi Nachman of Breslov: founder of Breslov Hasidism, among the most original and distinctive movements in the Hasidic world. His teaching offered a remedy for the ailments of the postmodern world some 200 years before it arrived. His books are studied today throughout the Jewish world, by secular and religious alike, and his Hasidism is today the most influential alongside Chabad. He is buried in Uman.
Rabbi Shmuel Chaim Landau (Shachal): one of the shapers of the idea of Torah and Labor, the man who connected the religious Zionism of Rabbi Reines’s school with the teaching of Rav Kook. An Israeli pioneer who was among the builders of religious Zionism’s foundations in the Land of Israel. Rav Kook eulogized him: “We saw the strength of the departed, who governed with honesty of heart and purity of soul, with his mighty faith in the sacred work. From this young age he labored over different parts… with holy devotion to labor, to an active life for themselves and for the whole, on the holy soil, according to the Torah of God — the Torah of Israel — which is the content that unites them.” He is buried on the Mount of Olives.
Friends, there is no time. Let’s get running.
