Tzvi Hersh Bonhart


Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Bonhart later known as the Maggid of Vodislav was an 18th-century German Jewish preacher and intellectual, who is also the father of Simcha Bunim of Peshischa.

Biography

Born around 1747 in Saxony, Germany, his father Rabbi Judah Leib Bonhart was a wealthy merchant and minor Rabbi in Saxony. In his early year's, Tzvi Hersh studied Medieval Jewish Philosophy, which he often references in his later works, quoting Ben Sira, Maimonides, Nahmanides and Ibn Ezra. He later moved to Vodislav, Poland, where he married Sarah Rachel Sirkin, the daughter of Betzalel HaLevi of Zhovkva. It was also during this time, that began to give sermons all over Lesser Poland, in which he promoted the juxtaposing of enlightenment rationalism with traditional Judaism, a belief which later defined the Peshischa movement. In 1784, he published his first work titled "Asara L'me'a" in Warsaw, which received minimal acclaim. However, in 1786, he published his magnum opus titled "Eretz Tzvi", which was an extensive collection of all the sermons he had given. The work was widely received, even getting the approbation from Rabbi Yechezkel Landau. Following his son's marriage, both he and his son began to develop an interest in Hassidic Judaism. In his old age, Tzvi Hersh still continued to travel to the several Hassidic communities across Poland. On one of these trips he met with Yisroel Hopstein and asked him to give him a blessing. Rabbi Hopstein replied stating that "You don't need my blessings, you have a son who will rescue you from wherever you are, even from the depths of hell!" One of Tzvi Hersh's more famous teachings was in regards to how to keep the passion present in marriages. Tzvi Hersh replied stating that:
Tzvi Hersh later died around 1810 in Vodislav.