The Wonders of Harav Yitzchack Kadouri

252 You bring man to submission It is well known that the death of tzaddikim atone for the sins of the generation. Our sages explain that this is why we read the Torah portion of the death of the children of Aharon, on the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur. Just as Yom Kippur atones for our sins, so too does the death of tzaddikim. This is why, I think, the death of Harav Kadouri followed on the heels of the death of Harav Darazi. Several weeks later, we mourned the loss of Harav Shabbatai Atun zt”l, the study partner of the Rav. That year we suffered three losses, one right after the other. The names of these three Rabbis who learned together, form the Hebrew acronym Dacka , spelling out a word from the verse, “You bring man to sub- mission.” Their deaths atoned for the Jewish nation, which apparently needed tremendous cleansing and Divine compassion. The tzaddik was lost and no one notices The verse (Yeshayahu 57:1) reads, “The tzaddik was lost and no one notices, men of kindness have passed away without realizing why, for the tzaddik was ga- thered in, to precede the outbreak of evil.” The commentators explain that this referred to Yeshayahu the Prophet, who was a tremendous tzaddik. Yet no one paid attention when he passed away, nor sought to understand why G-d had planned his death, to precede the evil which was to befall the generation. The Midrash ( Batei Mi- drashot vol. 1) writes: Do not think that only the wicked suffer evil tidings after the death of the tzaddikim. Even the righteous ones experience evil upon the demise of a tzaddik. This we ¿nd by Moshe and Aharon, who were sentenced to die in the desert, only after the death of their righteous sister Mi- riam. The Holy Zohar (vol. 1 pg. 1 0a) also writes: Rav Yossi began, “The tzaddik was lost and no one notices, men of kindness have passed away without realizing why, for the tzaddik was gathered in, to precede the outbreak of evil.” For the tzaddik was gathered in, to precede the outbreak of evil