Rav Nochumke emerged as a gabbai tzedakah par excellence, devoting his energies to caring for other
Known as Rav Nochumke of Horodna, Rav Menachem Nochum Kaplan (1811–1879) was one of the most beloved tzaddikim of the 19th century. Born into a poor family near Shavli, he soon became one of the earliest students at the Mir Yeshivah, under the aegis of its founder Rav Shmuel Tiktinsky, before going on to study in the great Volozhin Yeshivah.
When he settled in Horodna (today Grodno, Belarus), he didn’t desire to serve in an official rabbinical position and instead became the shamash of the local Beis Medrash Chevra Shas. Ostensibly a simple shamash, he was a phenomenal talmid chacham who spent the majority of his hours studying Torah and acting as a one-man chesed and tzedakah organization. He delivered several daily shiurim to the laymen of the town, all without remuneration.
Rav Nochumke emerged as a gabbai tzedakah par excellence, devoting his energies to caring for others. He suffered greatly in his own personal life, losing more than a dozen children to various illnesses. Nevertheless, among the myriad acts of kindness he carried out for decades were raising money for the needy, acting as a father to many orphans, obtaining firewood for those who couldn’t afford it, and secretly providing for the talmidei chachamim of the town. His modesty made him a paradigm of purity and holiness, and he became legendary throughout Lithuania.
One of Rav Nochumke’s admirers was an aspiring talmid chacham in nearby Radin named Rav Yisrael Meir HaKohein, soon to be known to the world as the Chofetz Chaim. While still in his twenties, the Chofetz Chaim fell ill from the physical strain of constant application to Torah study. The doctor advised him to abstain from study for a period of time in order to regain his strength. This caused the Chofetz Chaim much anguish, and he poured out his heart in notes he sent to the tzaddik of the generation, Rav Nochumke.
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