The holiday of Shavuos, fast approaching, is described in several different ways in the Torah, but unlike any other special day in the Jewish calendar, is not associated with a specific date, but rather with a specific event – the giving and receiving of our sacred Torah on Mount Sinai. Our Sages teach us that from this we learn that every day the words of Torah should be in our eyes as if we had just received them that day!

The words of Chazal are well-known that before HaShem gave the Torah, He went to every nation and they all refused to accept it. However, the overwhelming majority of each nation refused, but there were individuals who did want the Torah. Those individuals are the source of the souls of geirim (righteous converts). Shavuos is the holiday of converts, who follow the example of Ruth, the Moabite woman who left the idol-worshipping home in which she had grown up (much like Rivka) and became the progenitor of the royal Jewish line, from whom David HaMelech, and ultimately the Mashiach (Messiah) are descended. In the following story, we will discover another connection between Shavuos and converts…

From "Valentine Pototzki" to "Avrohom ben Avrohom"

In the fifth century of the sixth millennium (the early 1700s), an extremely wealthy duke lived in Poland, son of the Pototzki family, a famous noble family that had held important political positions in the Polish government. Graf Pototzki had one son, a smart, learned son named Valentine, and he had a friend named Zarembo, who studied with him in a theological seminary. The two planned to become Catholic priests and the Vilna Bishop sent them to study in Paris. There, while taking a stroll, they came across a Jewish Tanach. They began to learn with a certain rabbi in secret, until Pototzki's soul became attached to Judaism and he decided to convert, come what may. He traveled to Amsterdam, far from his devout Christian parents' home, became a righteous convert (ger tzedek) and joined the Jewish nation.

Valentine's parents, the Graf Pototzki and his wife, began a thorough search for their only son who was missing. They sent emissaries to the various lands from which he had sent them letters over the years, but they could not find him. On the other hand, "Valentine" began worrying that his parents would find him, so he left Amsterdam and went to Vilna dressed as one of the Perushim with a beard and payos. He settled himself into some small kloiz where he learned Shas and poskim day and night. Righteous women brought him meals.

It is said that when the Vilna Gaon found out what was happening, he advised the Ger Tzedek not to live in a large city like Vilna but to move to a small village where no one would recognize him. He traveled to Ilia, where he stayed in the beis knesses wrapped in a tallis and tefillin and learned and davened with lofty deveikus (devotion). The Jews of Ilia respected him as an exalted, holy man, but with the exception of the village rabbi, no one knew who he really was.

A tailor who used to sew furs for the noblemen lived in this village. Through his gentile customers, he heard that Graf Pototzki was searching for his lost son and the rumor was that the son converted. The tailor suspected this Porush, who spoke Yiddish with a strange accent and also a perfect Polish -- a rare accomplishment among the Jews -- but he kept his suspicions to himself.

One day, the tailor's mischievous son teased the Porush and disturbed his learning. When he could not take it anymore, the Porush picked him up by ears and took him out of shul, saying that if a Jewish boy could act with such wickedness, he could become a meshumad. (Some say that the boy did indeed become an apostate.) The tailor was enraged, and although the Ger Tzedek apologized, the tailor went to the authorities and informed on him.

Armed soldiers immediately came to Ilia, bound the Porush in chains and brought him to the capital city Vilna to the local bishop. In those days, when the Church ruled supreme, a gentile who dared convert to Judaism was sentenced to burning at the stake. As soon as the imprisonment became public knowledge, the Ger Tzedek's parents came to the prison and tried to convince him to return home. They fell at his feet and cried and begged him to save himself from death and to return to Christianity. It was all for naught. Their former son now dwelled in other worlds, pure and holy. The priests as well tried to convince him again and again to return to their religion. But he answered them bitingly, "I am willing to meet you, but why do you bring me `these dogs?'" and he pointed to the crosses they wore. He announced that he was prepared to die as a Jew, al kiddush HaShem. The many terrible tortures that they inflicted upon him were to no avail, and he remained faithful to HaShem.

One of the tactics his parents tried was to suggest that he renounce his geirus only outwardly. They said that when he was freed, they would build him his own palace where he could live secretly as a Jew. The answer to this too was absolutely no. He wanted to fulfill his strong desire to sacrifice himself as a korbon (sacrifice) to sanctify Heaven's name.

The Chofetz Chaim, who used to tell over the story of the Ger Tzedek often, related that the Gra (the Vilna Gaon) offered to save him from being tortured and killed through the use of Sheimos Kedoshim  (the holy names of G-d) according to kabalah. But the Ger Tzedek told his rebbe that since he had recognized the Creator of the world, he was prepared to sacrifice his life al kiddush HaShem. He did not want to forgo the lofty merit of Kiddush HaShem and exchange it for a physical body.

And so, with these pure, lofty thoughts, the Ger Tzedek returned his holy soul al kiddush HaShem when he was burnt at stake a few days later. Before jumping into the flames, he made the brocho of "Boruch … mekadesh es shimcho borabim." (‘Blessed are You … Who has commanded us to sanctify His Name publicly’) and called out in a loud voice, "Shema Yisroel HaShem Elokeinu HaShem Echod."

After the Ger Tzedek was burnt at the stake, the priests forbade gathering his dust to be buried. But the Gra decided that they were obligated to try to give him a Jewish burial, and that is what happened. A Vilna Jew by the name of Reb Eliezer Meir Sirki (or Leizer Siskes according to another version) did not have a beard which made it easy for him to disguise himself as a gentile. The Gra chose him to fulfill this mitzva.

Reb Leizer dressed up in gentile clothing and went to bribe the gentile appointed to temporarily guard the ashes. After offering a large sum of money, Reb Leizer received some ashes and two pure fingers, which he buried in an earthenware vessel -- a proper Jewish burial.

A wondrous phenomenon occurred at the grave of the ashes of the Ger Tzedek in the ancient cemetery in Vilna. A thick tree grew on top of it, shaped like a human body stooped over the grave, covering it, as if to protect it. At the bottom of the tree, two branches grew like two legs and two branches crossed on top like two arms. Whoever saw it was frightened by the tree's awesome appearance, which rose from the ashes of the holy and pure one.

We cannot end the description of this chapter until we mention another thing told about the Gra's connection to the Ger Tzedek. Once, the Gaon went to comfort one of his students whose son died in infancy. While comforting him, he revealed the secret of why the infant was taken so young. The Ger Tzedek, Reb Avrohom ben Avrohom, purified himself with all kinds of holiness, but there was one thing he could not rectify -- that he was not born in kedusha, because he had a gentile mother. His soul therefore came back down to earth in the form of that baby, and when his tikun was complete, he returned to his eternal home.

The yahrtzeit of The Ger Tzedek is on the second day of Shavuos. He was martyred in 5509 (1749), 257 years ago. Reb Avrohom ben Avrohom was one of the most admired and hallowed personalities in the eyes of Vilna Jews for generations. They called him "The Ger Tzedek," with a capital "T" -- he who, in his youth, answered to the name "Duke Valentine Pototzki," was named Avrohom ben Avrohom at his conversion.

The Jews of the city used to show the site where the Ger Tzedek was burnt at the stake on a street called "the Wide Road." They said that the trees for the fire were brought by gentiles of Sapinikes, a suburb near Vilna. They paid dearly for their alacrity and devotion, because immediately after the Ger Tzedek was burnt a large fire broke out and destroyed the entire suburb.

The Vilna Jews also used to tell about the fact that when the Ger Tzedek was burnt, the smoke ascended onto the building next to it and a black stain remained there forever. The gentiles worked hard to remove the stain, but nothing, not even repainting the building, helped. They finally knocked down the building in great embarrassment. In 5712 (1952), the Russian government destroyed the ancient cemetery of Vilna. Only seven graves were moved to the new cemetery, including the Gra's and the Ger Tzedek's. A monument stands at the site of the old cemetery containing the following words in Yiddish:

Here were buried in the dust / Gedolei Yisroel / Including: / The Vilna Gaon -- / Eliyohu bar Shlomo Kramer / The Ger Tzedek -- / Graf Valentine Pototzki

[http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5760/nasso/features.htm]