This Shabbos, 25 Teves(Parashas Va’Era)
RavMoshe Tzvi Gitterman of Savran (1775-1838). Known as a genius as a boy, he
was fluent in all of Seder Nezikin at the age of twelve. He learned chassidus
from Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev and Rav Baruch of Mezhibuzh. After his
father’s petira in 1802, he succeeded him as maggid of Savran. After the petirah
of the Ohev Yisrael, he became the foremost Rebbe in all of the Ukraine.
Eventually, he became the Rav of the two kehillos of Uman and Keshinov, When Rav
Baruch of Mezhibuzh was niftar in 1811, Rav Moshe Tzvi took on the mantle of
Admorus, officially leading Chassidim. His Divrei torah are recorded in Likutei
Shoshanim.
Rav Yosef Rosen, Rav of Telshe and Slonim (1885).
Rav Eliyahu Meir Feivelsohn of Yekatrinoslav (1928)
Rav Yechiel Michel Tukatchinsky [Tikochinsky], mashgiach of Slabodka in Bnai
Brak, and founder of Yeshivas Mekor Chaim in Yerushalayim. In 1925, he published
a sefer called Tekufas Hachamoh Uvirchosoh, in preparation for the bracha made
when the sun returns to the point at which it began upon Creation. He wrote a
sefer called Bein Hashmoshos, published in 1929, which dealt with the
International Date Line. In 1941, he changed his mind altogether, as documented
in his sefer, Hayomam Bekadur Haaretz, in which he shows that the new day begins
12 hours to the east of Yerushalayim.
Rav Shlomo Mazuz, author of Sho’el U’meishiv Kerem Shlomo and Cheshek Shlomo
(1982).
Sunday, 26 Teves
Rabbeinu Avraham bar Dovid miPosquires (Ra’avad), author of Hasagos on the
Rambam and the Rif
Rav Avraham Chaim of Zlotchov, author of Orach LeChaim and P’ri Chaim
(1816).[Note: Rav Chaim Leib Epsztein was Rav and Av Beis Din at Czyzewo from
1729, then at Czyzewo, and finally at Kolszyn. He was mechaber of a sefer called
Pri Chaim. There was also a Rav in Sokolow named Rav Chaim Leib from Kaluszyn
author of Pri Chaim.]
Rav Mattisyahu (ben Aharon Tzvi) Weitzner (1952-2010). Av Beis Din of
Pshemisheler, he succeeded his father as Rav of the kehilla in 2007, after the
latter was niftar at the age of 102.
Monday, 27 Teves
Rav Shimshon Raphael (ben Raphael Aryeh) Hirsch, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
(1808-1888). His father (1777-1857), who changed the family name to Hirsch, was
the son of Rav Menachem Mendel Frankfurter of Altuna (1742-1823). Rav Menachem
Mendel was a talmid of Rav Yonasan Eibeshitz and was the Rav of three
communities of Altuna, Hamburg, and Wandsbeck (“AHU”). At the age of 18, Rav
Shamshon Raphael went to Mannheim to learn at the yeshiva of Rav Yaakov
Ettlinger, author of Aruch La’ner. Rav Hirsch received smicha from Rav Ettlinger
after learning there for a year. Thereafter, he attended the University of Bonn.
That education would serve him well later in life as he combated the forces of
Reform with eloquence. When he was 21, he was appointed Chief Rabbi of the Grand
Duchy of Oldenburg. There, he married Chana Judel. He also authored Iggros
Hatzafon (The 19th Letters), under the pen name Ben Uziel. One year later, he
published Chorev. In 1847, he became Chief Rabbi of Moravia, a region of 50,000
Jews in 52 communities, and which is now the Czech Republic. In 1851, he became
the Rav of Frankfurt am Main, which he transformed into a Torah bastion. His
best known works are the classic six-volume Commentary on Chumash.
Rav Avrohom Shlomo (ben Eliyahu Eliash), the Rebbe of Szamosujvar (1874-1930).
The town of Szamosujvar was near Dej in Transylvania and modern day Romania (at
times it was part of Hungary). Rav Avrohom Shlomo was a talmid and gabbai of
the Arugos Habosim and a chasid of the Belzer Rebbe and he was very close
friends with the Dejer Rav. He was appointed Dayan of Szamosujvar in 1895, and
was one of the three member Beis Din that appointed Rav Yoel Teitelbaum as Rebbe
in Satmar. He became Rebbe in 1920. He was a well-known expert in the halachos
of choshen mishpat and wrote many seforim, most of which were destroyed in the
Shoah.
Rav Shmuel Hillel (ben Avraham) Shenker (1956). His father was one of Rav
Yisrael's Salanter’s greatest disciples. Reb Shmuel spent his early years in
Slobodka, but he was orphaned of his father at an early age. He thus traveled to
the Talmud Torah in Kelm and learned under the Alter, Reb Simcha Zissel. After a
number of years, he traveled to Eretz Yisrael with his relative, Reb Tzvi Pesach
Frank, who later became chief rabbi of Yerushalaim. In 1895, Reb Shmuel Hillel
married the oldest daughter of Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld. On 9 Iyar 1944, his
beloved son Reb Mendel Shenker passed away when he was only forty-six. A year
later, another son - Yisrael - passed away on 27 Teves 1945.
Rav Kalman Avraham Goldberg (1895-1968). A devoted disciple of the Alter of
Novardok, he became Rav in Vasilkov. He moved to America in 1926. In 1928, he
was hired to head the beis din for Adas Yisrael, under Rav Velvel Margulies.
After Rav Velvel’s petira, he became Rav.
Rav Menashe Yitzchak Meir (ben Asher Yeshaya) Eichenstein of Ziditchov -Petach
Tikvah (1971). He was named Rebbe of Ziditchov after the petira of his father.
After World War II, he moved to Eretz Yisrael and settled in Petach Tikvah.
Rav Avraham Simcha HaKohen Kaplan (1990). Chief Rabbi of Tzefas.
Rav Pinchas Hirschprung, Chief Rabbi of Montreal (1915-1998). At the age 15, he
published a Torah journal, Ohel Torah, along with his friend, Rav Yeshaya Yosef
Margolin, in Galicia. He then joined Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin, learning under
Rav Meir Shapiro. At the outbreak of War World II, Rav Pinchas fled to Vilna,
which was still neutral territory. In 1942, he acquired a visa to travel to
Canada with a group of students from Mir and Lubavitch. When he arrived in
Montreal, he was offered the position of Rav Kehillas Adas Yisrael. When Yeshiva
Merkaz Hatorah was established, Rav Pinchas was made its Rosh Yeshiva.
Eventually, he was Rav Ha’Ir of Montreal.
Tuesday, 28 Teves
Rav Shmuel Berenbaum, Rosh Yeshiva of Mir in Brooklyn (1921-2008). Born in the
small Polish-Lithuanian town of Kinishen, Reb Shmuel began his formal learning
at Yeshiva Ohel Torah of Baranovitch in 1935 under the leadership of Rav
Elchonon Wasserma. During his years in the Mirrer Yeshiva, he became very close
with the famed Mashgiach of the Mir, Rav Yechezkel Levenstein. Rav Shmuel
escaped from Europe together with the Mirrer Yeshiva and spent six years with
the yeshiva in exile in Shanghai. He arrived in the United States with the
yeshiva led by the mashgiach, Rav Chatzkel, in 1947, and continued to learn in
the yeshiva. In the early 1950s, Rav Avrohom Kalmanowitz zt”l, who had sustained
and saved the yeshiva in Shanghai and rebuilt it in America , took Rav Shmuel as
a son-in-law. After his marriage, Rav Shmuel joined the kollel of the Mirrer
Yeshiva. In 1964, with the passing of Rav Kalmanowitz, Rav Shraga Moshe
Kalmanowitz, oldest son of Rav Avrohom, together with Rav Shmuel, became roshei
yeshiva of the Mirrer Yeshiva.
Wednesday, 29 Teves
Rav Yehoshua YehudahLeib (ben Binyamin) Diskin (1818-1898), the Maharil Diskin,
Rav of Brisk. He was born in Horodno. Reb Yehoshua Leib was engaged before his
bar mitzva and at the age of fourteen he married the daughter of Rav Brode and
lived with his father-in-law in Wolkowitz. He became Rav in various cities such
as Lomza, Mezritch, Kovno, Shklov, and finally in Brisk. He moved to Eretz
Yisrael after Yom Kippur in 1878. Rav Diskin's second wife, Sarah, was known as
the "Brisker Rebbetzin." She descended from the Nodah bi-Yehudah and brought
40,000 rubles into their marriage, with which the couple established the Diskin
Orphanage in Yerushalyim in 1880. She died in 1907. Rav Diskin also established
the Ohel Moshe Yeshiva and held the line against attempts by maskilim to
introduce secular institutions to Yerushalyim.
Rav Yerachmiel Yisrael Yitzchak (ben Yechiel) of Alexander, the Yismach Yisrael
(1853-1910). At an early age, his father took him to Rav Menachem Mendel of
Vorka, then Rav Beirush of Biala. After the latter’s passing, he became of a
chasid of his father. After his father’s passing in 1894, he became the
Alexander Rebbe.
Rav Marcus (Nosson) Adler, author of Nesina L'ger (1803-1890). He was Rav of
Oldenburg, 1829-1830, and Hanover, 1830-1844, and Chief Rabbi of the British
Empire, 1844-1890.
Rav Meir Chodosh, mashgiach of Yeshivas Chevron, Ateres Yisrael, and Ohr
Elchanan (1898-1989). Born in Patrich, Lithuania, he was a talmid muvhak of the
Alter of Slabodka, Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel. In the summer of 1925, he accompanied
the Alter on the journey to Eretz Yisrael, to join the yeshiva which had been
founded a year earlier in Chevron. After his marriage in 1928, Rev Meir was
appointed as a maggid shiur in the yeshiva and served as one of the spiritual
overseers, alongside Rav Yehuda Leib Chasman. After Rav Chasman's petirah, he
was appointed mashgiach. He lived through the Arab massacre of Chevron's Jews on
Shabbos morning, 16 Av, 1929, as he and his young Rebbetzin hid under the
blood-stained bodies of two of the karbonos. Several years after the yeshiva
moved to Yerushalayim, Rav Meir was offered a position as Rosh Yeshiva of a new
yeshiva in Warsaw. Rebbetzin Chodosh was firmly opposed to this plan; the
churban of Europe proved her advice correct.
Rav Daniel Levy (1935-2004). Born the youngest of nine children in Petersfield,
England, he learned at Gateshead Yeshiva and Kollel before and for 12 years
after his marriage. Following a trip to America, where he learned from Rav Moshe
Feinstein and Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky, he was chosen as Rav of the Khal Adas
Yeshurun of Zurich.
Rav Chaim Shamshon Swiatycki (1914-2004), nephew of the Chazon Ish and scion of
the Karelitz dynasty, whose patriarch and matriarch – Rav Shemaryahu Yosef and
Rasha Leah, had 15 children. Her third child, Henya Chaya, married Rav Abba
Swiatycki, who became Rav of Kosova, after the petira of Rav Shemaryahu Yosef
during WW I. Their only child was Rav Chaim. Rav Chaim’s mentor was his uncle,
Rav Yitzchak Zundel Karelitz, brother of the Chazon Ish. At the age of 14, he
left for Mir, then learned with Rav Baruch Ber Lebovitz in Kaminetz, where he
stayed for six years. In 1934, he followed his uncle to Eretz Yisrael to escape
conscription. He learned at Yeshiva Chevron in Yerushalayim and Yeshivas
Volozhin in Tel Aviv. He then moved to America in 1938 where he joined the
faculty at Mesivta Tiferes Yerushalayim.
Rav Yitzchak Kaduri(1901-2006). Born to to Rab Zeev Diva in Baghdad. Upon his
second visit to Eretz Yisrael in 1923, he changed his last name from Diva to
Kadouri and fixed his place of study at Yeshivat Porat Yosef in the Old City. He
studied Kabbalah under the tutelage of Rabbi Ephraim Cohen and Rabbi Salman
Eliyahu (father of former Sephardic Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu). After
marrying his first wife, Sarah, HaRav Kadouri lived in Shechunat Habucharim, one
of Jerusalem's first neighborhoods built outside the Old City walls. He would
stay at the yeshiva all week, coming home shortly before Shabbos. Following the
petira of Rav Ephraim Hakohen, head of Jerusalem's mekubalim, toward the end of
1949, Rav Kadouri was selected to head the group. He found a new institution
called Yeshivat Nachalat Yitzchak. Graced with a phenomenal memory, he was said
to have known the entire Babylonian Talmud by heart. His closer students say
that the blessing of the Ben Ish Chai and that of the Lubavitcher Rebbe - both
of whom blessed him that he might live to see the Final Redeemer - came true.
The students say that Rabbi Kaduri told them he met the Messiah on Cheshvan 9,
5764 (Nov. 4, 2003). He reportedly said that the Messiah is not promoting
himself, and that a study of his [Rabbi Kaduri's] words in recent months would
provide hints of his identity.
Thursday, 1 Shvat
Rav Nota of Chelm, the Neta Shaahuim (1812)
Rav Moshe Schick, the Maharam Shick (1807-1879). His “last name” was created by
his family in response to a demand by government agencies; it is an acrostic for
“Shem Yehudi Kodesh.” Born in Brezheva, a small town in Hungary, he was sent at
the age of 11 to learn with his uncle, Rav Yitzchak Frankel, av beis din in
Regendorf. When he was 14, he was sent to learn under the Chasam Sofer in
Pressburg, where he stayed for six years. When he was 20, he married his cousin,
Gittel Frankel. He was appointed Rav in Yargen in 1838, the year of the Chasam
Sofer’s petira, then became Rav in Chust.
Rav Moshe Yechiel Halevi Epstein from Ozerov (1890-1971), great-grandson of Rav
Leibish, the first Ozerover Rebbe. In 1912, he became Rav of Ozerov and in 1918,
he replaced his father as Rebbe. During World War I, Ozerov burned down, with
only 22 houses left standing (only 11 of Jewish inhabitants). In 1920, he
traveled to America to publicize the importance of Agudas Israel, and in 1927,
he moved his family to the Bronx. He moved to Eretz Yisrael in 1949 and settled
in Tel Aviv. Rav Moshe Yechiel wrote two monumental works, Aish Daas, comprised
of 11 volumes, and Be’er Moshe, 12 volumes on Chumasah and Tanach. Each volume
contained at least 500 pages, over 10,000 pages in all. Two biographies have
been written about him, “Balabas Aish” and “The Aish Daas of Ozerov.” Rav Moshe
Yechiel was succeeded by his son-in-law, Rav Tanchum Binyamin Becker.
Rav Avraham Yehuda Farbstein (1917-1997), Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Chevron. Rav
Farbstein's father was one of the founders of Bnei Brak and was head of its
first city council. As a youth, Reb Avraham Yehuda studied in the Chevron
Yeshiva and the Mir Yeshiva in Europe. Rav Farbstein's wife was a daughter of
Rav Yechezkel Sarna, He taught in the Chevron Yeshiva for 50 years.
Rav Binyamin Rabinowitz, chaver beis din of Eida Chareidis (2002)
Rebbetzin Menucha Ettel (bas Avraham) Nekritz (1914-2006), granddaughter of the
Alter of Novardok, and the daughter of Rav Yaffen, the rosh yeshiva of Novardok
in Poland. Born in 1914 in Bialystock, Poland. She was named after Rav Chaim
Shmuelevitz's mother Ettel — the sister of her mother — with the name Menucha
added because her aunt had died young. The Alter was niftar when she was six
years old, and her father, Rav Yaffen, ran the large network of Novardok
yeshivas that were spread out all over Poland. Its nerve center was in
Bialystock. She married Rav Yehuda Leib Nekritz in 1935.
Friday, 2 Shvat
Asher ben Yaakov Avinu
Rav Menachem Mendel Krochmahl of Nikolsburg, the Tzemach Tzedek (~1600-1661). He
learned in Krakowat the yeshiva of the Bach, his rebbi muvhak and had a close
relationship with the Taz. In 1631, he fled Krakow because of the uprisings of
the Cossacks and settled in Moravia, becoming Rav in Krezmir. He later became
Rav in Prosnitz, then in 1648 of Nikolsburg. There is a sefer called Pi Tzadik
which has been attributed to him, but research has determined that the author is
his son, Rav Aryeh Yehuda Leib.
Rav Meshulam Zusha (Rebbe Reb Zusha) from Anapoli (Hanipol) (1718-1800).
Disciple of Magid of Mezritch; younger brother of the Noam Elimelech.
Rav Simcha Bunim (ben Menachem Mendel) Kalish of Otvotzk and Teveria, son of the
Vorker Rebbe. (1907)
Rav Tzvi Hersh Rabinowitz (1910)
Rav Yisrael Chaim Kaplan, talmid at Mir, son-in-law of Rav Yerucham Levovitz,
mashgiach at Beth Medrash Elyon in Monsey from mid-1940s until his petira
(1970).
Rav Mansour Ben Shimon, author of Shemen HaMaor (1998)
Next Shabbos, 3 Shvat(Parashas Bo)
Rav Yosef Katz, brother-in-law of the Rema and author of She’eris Yosef (1591).
Rav Yosef Rakover, Rav of Eibeshetz, author of Mirkeves Hamishna (1703)
Rav Pinchas of Plotzk, talmid of the Vilna Gaon, and author of Maggid Tzedek
(1823)
Rav Simcha Bunim of Peshischa (1767-1828). After learning at Mattersdorf and
Nikolsburg, Rav Simcha Bunim was introduced to chasidus by his father-in-law,
and became a chasid of the Magid of Kozhnitz and then the Chozeh of Lublin. He
followed Rav Yaakov Yitzchak (the Yid Hakadosh) as leader of Pshischa,
emphasizing Torah study. Among the followers of his methods were the Kotzker
Rebbe, the Vorker Rebbe, the Chadushei Harim of Ger and Rav Chanoch of
Alexander.
Rav Moshe Yehuda Leib Zilberberg, Rav of Kutna and Yerushalayim, author of Zayis
Raanan and Tiferes Yerushalayim (1865)
Rav Yechezkel Shraga (ben Yehoshua Heshel) Frankel-Teumim (1885). The grandson
of Rav Baruch (the Baruch Taam), Rav Yechezkel Shraga was a close of chassid of
his uncle, the Divrei Chaim of Sanz. He was appointed Rav of Klasna-Vielitshke,
two towns which were located close to each other. His thoughts on Chumash and
halacha are written in the sefer Divrei Yechezkel. He was succeeded by his
son-in-law, Rav Shmuel Shmelke Azriel Frankel-Teumim.
Rav Yosef (ben Menachem) Kalish, Rebbe of Amshinov (1878-1935). A grandson of
Rav Yaakov Dovid of Amshinov, and great-grandson of Rav Yitzchak of Vorka. Rav
Yosef was appointed Rav of Ostrova at the age of 27. He then succeeded his
father in 1918. His son, Rav Yaakov Dovid (1906-1942), became Rebbe of Amshinov,
upon Rav Yosef’s petrira.
Rav Yerachmiel (ben Meir Mordechai Dovid) Unger (1916-1999). In 1909, Rav
Yerachmiel’s father moved his family from Melitz, Galicia, to New York. Rav
Yerachmiel married a daughter of the Kamarna Rav in 1934, and he served as magid
shiur at Yeshivas Chasam Sofer for many years. He moved to Boro Park in 1962,
and became a mispallel at the Amshinover shul, where he became to be the
official posek.
RavMoshe Tzvi Gitterman of Savran (1775-1838). Known as a genius as a boy, he
was fluent in all of Seder Nezikin at the age of twelve. He learned chassidus
from Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev and Rav Baruch of Mezhibuzh. After his
father’s petira in 1802, he succeeded him as maggid of Savran. After the petirah
of the Ohev Yisrael, he became the foremost Rebbe in all of the Ukraine.
Eventually, he became the Rav of the two kehillos of Uman and Keshinov, When Rav
Baruch of Mezhibuzh was niftar in 1811, Rav Moshe Tzvi took on the mantle of
Admorus, officially leading Chassidim. His Divrei torah are recorded in Likutei
Shoshanim.
Rav Yosef Rosen, Rav of Telshe and Slonim (1885).
Rav Eliyahu Meir Feivelsohn of Yekatrinoslav (1928)
Rav Yechiel Michel Tukatchinsky [Tikochinsky], mashgiach of Slabodka in Bnai
Brak, and founder of Yeshivas Mekor Chaim in Yerushalayim. In 1925, he published
a sefer called Tekufas Hachamoh Uvirchosoh, in preparation for the bracha made
when the sun returns to the point at which it began upon Creation. He wrote a
sefer called Bein Hashmoshos, published in 1929, which dealt with the
International Date Line. In 1941, he changed his mind altogether, as documented
in his sefer, Hayomam Bekadur Haaretz, in which he shows that the new day begins
12 hours to the east of Yerushalayim.
Rav Shlomo Mazuz, author of Sho’el U’meishiv Kerem Shlomo and Cheshek Shlomo
(1982).
Sunday, 26 Teves
Rabbeinu Avraham bar Dovid miPosquires (Ra’avad), author of Hasagos on the
Rambam and the Rif
Rav Avraham Chaim of Zlotchov, author of Orach LeChaim and P’ri Chaim
(1816).[Note: Rav Chaim Leib Epsztein was Rav and Av Beis Din at Czyzewo from
1729, then at Czyzewo, and finally at Kolszyn. He was mechaber of a sefer called
Pri Chaim. There was also a Rav in Sokolow named Rav Chaim Leib from Kaluszyn
author of Pri Chaim.]
Rav Mattisyahu (ben Aharon Tzvi) Weitzner (1952-2010). Av Beis Din of
Pshemisheler, he succeeded his father as Rav of the kehilla in 2007, after the
latter was niftar at the age of 102.
Monday, 27 Teves
Rav Shimshon Raphael (ben Raphael Aryeh) Hirsch, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
(1808-1888). His father (1777-1857), who changed the family name to Hirsch, was
the son of Rav Menachem Mendel Frankfurter of Altuna (1742-1823). Rav Menachem
Mendel was a talmid of Rav Yonasan Eibeshitz and was the Rav of three
communities of Altuna, Hamburg, and Wandsbeck (“AHU”). At the age of 18, Rav
Shamshon Raphael went to Mannheim to learn at the yeshiva of Rav Yaakov
Ettlinger, author of Aruch La’ner. Rav Hirsch received smicha from Rav Ettlinger
after learning there for a year. Thereafter, he attended the University of Bonn.
That education would serve him well later in life as he combated the forces of
Reform with eloquence. When he was 21, he was appointed Chief Rabbi of the Grand
Duchy of Oldenburg. There, he married Chana Judel. He also authored Iggros
Hatzafon (The 19th Letters), under the pen name Ben Uziel. One year later, he
published Chorev. In 1847, he became Chief Rabbi of Moravia, a region of 50,000
Jews in 52 communities, and which is now the Czech Republic. In 1851, he became
the Rav of Frankfurt am Main, which he transformed into a Torah bastion. His
best known works are the classic six-volume Commentary on Chumash.
Rav Avrohom Shlomo (ben Eliyahu Eliash), the Rebbe of Szamosujvar (1874-1930).
The town of Szamosujvar was near Dej in Transylvania and modern day Romania (at
times it was part of Hungary). Rav Avrohom Shlomo was a talmid and gabbai of
the Arugos Habosim and a chasid of the Belzer Rebbe and he was very close
friends with the Dejer Rav. He was appointed Dayan of Szamosujvar in 1895, and
was one of the three member Beis Din that appointed Rav Yoel Teitelbaum as Rebbe
in Satmar. He became Rebbe in 1920. He was a well-known expert in the halachos
of choshen mishpat and wrote many seforim, most of which were destroyed in the
Shoah.
Rav Shmuel Hillel (ben Avraham) Shenker (1956). His father was one of Rav
Yisrael's Salanter’s greatest disciples. Reb Shmuel spent his early years in
Slobodka, but he was orphaned of his father at an early age. He thus traveled to
the Talmud Torah in Kelm and learned under the Alter, Reb Simcha Zissel. After a
number of years, he traveled to Eretz Yisrael with his relative, Reb Tzvi Pesach
Frank, who later became chief rabbi of Yerushalaim. In 1895, Reb Shmuel Hillel
married the oldest daughter of Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld. On 9 Iyar 1944, his
beloved son Reb Mendel Shenker passed away when he was only forty-six. A year
later, another son - Yisrael - passed away on 27 Teves 1945.
Rav Kalman Avraham Goldberg (1895-1968). A devoted disciple of the Alter of
Novardok, he became Rav in Vasilkov. He moved to America in 1926. In 1928, he
was hired to head the beis din for Adas Yisrael, under Rav Velvel Margulies.
After Rav Velvel’s petira, he became Rav.
Rav Menashe Yitzchak Meir (ben Asher Yeshaya) Eichenstein of Ziditchov -Petach
Tikvah (1971). He was named Rebbe of Ziditchov after the petira of his father.
After World War II, he moved to Eretz Yisrael and settled in Petach Tikvah.
Rav Avraham Simcha HaKohen Kaplan (1990). Chief Rabbi of Tzefas.
Rav Pinchas Hirschprung, Chief Rabbi of Montreal (1915-1998). At the age 15, he
published a Torah journal, Ohel Torah, along with his friend, Rav Yeshaya Yosef
Margolin, in Galicia. He then joined Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin, learning under
Rav Meir Shapiro. At the outbreak of War World II, Rav Pinchas fled to Vilna,
which was still neutral territory. In 1942, he acquired a visa to travel to
Canada with a group of students from Mir and Lubavitch. When he arrived in
Montreal, he was offered the position of Rav Kehillas Adas Yisrael. When Yeshiva
Merkaz Hatorah was established, Rav Pinchas was made its Rosh Yeshiva.
Eventually, he was Rav Ha’Ir of Montreal.
Tuesday, 28 Teves
Rav Shmuel Berenbaum, Rosh Yeshiva of Mir in Brooklyn (1921-2008). Born in the
small Polish-Lithuanian town of Kinishen, Reb Shmuel began his formal learning
at Yeshiva Ohel Torah of Baranovitch in 1935 under the leadership of Rav
Elchonon Wasserma. During his years in the Mirrer Yeshiva, he became very close
with the famed Mashgiach of the Mir, Rav Yechezkel Levenstein. Rav Shmuel
escaped from Europe together with the Mirrer Yeshiva and spent six years with
the yeshiva in exile in Shanghai. He arrived in the United States with the
yeshiva led by the mashgiach, Rav Chatzkel, in 1947, and continued to learn in
the yeshiva. In the early 1950s, Rav Avrohom Kalmanowitz zt”l, who had sustained
and saved the yeshiva in Shanghai and rebuilt it in America , took Rav Shmuel as
a son-in-law. After his marriage, Rav Shmuel joined the kollel of the Mirrer
Yeshiva. In 1964, with the passing of Rav Kalmanowitz, Rav Shraga Moshe
Kalmanowitz, oldest son of Rav Avrohom, together with Rav Shmuel, became roshei
yeshiva of the Mirrer Yeshiva.
Wednesday, 29 Teves
Rav Yehoshua YehudahLeib (ben Binyamin) Diskin (1818-1898), the Maharil Diskin,
Rav of Brisk. He was born in Horodno. Reb Yehoshua Leib was engaged before his
bar mitzva and at the age of fourteen he married the daughter of Rav Brode and
lived with his father-in-law in Wolkowitz. He became Rav in various cities such
as Lomza, Mezritch, Kovno, Shklov, and finally in Brisk. He moved to Eretz
Yisrael after Yom Kippur in 1878. Rav Diskin's second wife, Sarah, was known as
the "Brisker Rebbetzin." She descended from the Nodah bi-Yehudah and brought
40,000 rubles into their marriage, with which the couple established the Diskin
Orphanage in Yerushalyim in 1880. She died in 1907. Rav Diskin also established
the Ohel Moshe Yeshiva and held the line against attempts by maskilim to
introduce secular institutions to Yerushalyim.
Rav Yerachmiel Yisrael Yitzchak (ben Yechiel) of Alexander, the Yismach Yisrael
(1853-1910). At an early age, his father took him to Rav Menachem Mendel of
Vorka, then Rav Beirush of Biala. After the latter’s passing, he became of a
chasid of his father. After his father’s passing in 1894, he became the
Alexander Rebbe.
Rav Marcus (Nosson) Adler, author of Nesina L'ger (1803-1890). He was Rav of
Oldenburg, 1829-1830, and Hanover, 1830-1844, and Chief Rabbi of the British
Empire, 1844-1890.
Rav Meir Chodosh, mashgiach of Yeshivas Chevron, Ateres Yisrael, and Ohr
Elchanan (1898-1989). Born in Patrich, Lithuania, he was a talmid muvhak of the
Alter of Slabodka, Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel. In the summer of 1925, he accompanied
the Alter on the journey to Eretz Yisrael, to join the yeshiva which had been
founded a year earlier in Chevron. After his marriage in 1928, Rev Meir was
appointed as a maggid shiur in the yeshiva and served as one of the spiritual
overseers, alongside Rav Yehuda Leib Chasman. After Rav Chasman's petirah, he
was appointed mashgiach. He lived through the Arab massacre of Chevron's Jews on
Shabbos morning, 16 Av, 1929, as he and his young Rebbetzin hid under the
blood-stained bodies of two of the karbonos. Several years after the yeshiva
moved to Yerushalayim, Rav Meir was offered a position as Rosh Yeshiva of a new
yeshiva in Warsaw. Rebbetzin Chodosh was firmly opposed to this plan; the
churban of Europe proved her advice correct.
Rav Daniel Levy (1935-2004). Born the youngest of nine children in Petersfield,
England, he learned at Gateshead Yeshiva and Kollel before and for 12 years
after his marriage. Following a trip to America, where he learned from Rav Moshe
Feinstein and Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky, he was chosen as Rav of the Khal Adas
Yeshurun of Zurich.
Rav Chaim Shamshon Swiatycki (1914-2004), nephew of the Chazon Ish and scion of
the Karelitz dynasty, whose patriarch and matriarch – Rav Shemaryahu Yosef and
Rasha Leah, had 15 children. Her third child, Henya Chaya, married Rav Abba
Swiatycki, who became Rav of Kosova, after the petira of Rav Shemaryahu Yosef
during WW I. Their only child was Rav Chaim. Rav Chaim’s mentor was his uncle,
Rav Yitzchak Zundel Karelitz, brother of the Chazon Ish. At the age of 14, he
left for Mir, then learned with Rav Baruch Ber Lebovitz in Kaminetz, where he
stayed for six years. In 1934, he followed his uncle to Eretz Yisrael to escape
conscription. He learned at Yeshiva Chevron in Yerushalayim and Yeshivas
Volozhin in Tel Aviv. He then moved to America in 1938 where he joined the
faculty at Mesivta Tiferes Yerushalayim.
Rav Yitzchak Kaduri(1901-2006). Born to to Rab Zeev Diva in Baghdad. Upon his
second visit to Eretz Yisrael in 1923, he changed his last name from Diva to
Kadouri and fixed his place of study at Yeshivat Porat Yosef in the Old City. He
studied Kabbalah under the tutelage of Rabbi Ephraim Cohen and Rabbi Salman
Eliyahu (father of former Sephardic Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu). After
marrying his first wife, Sarah, HaRav Kadouri lived in Shechunat Habucharim, one
of Jerusalem's first neighborhoods built outside the Old City walls. He would
stay at the yeshiva all week, coming home shortly before Shabbos. Following the
petira of Rav Ephraim Hakohen, head of Jerusalem's mekubalim, toward the end of
1949, Rav Kadouri was selected to head the group. He found a new institution
called Yeshivat Nachalat Yitzchak. Graced with a phenomenal memory, he was said
to have known the entire Babylonian Talmud by heart. His closer students say
that the blessing of the Ben Ish Chai and that of the Lubavitcher Rebbe - both
of whom blessed him that he might live to see the Final Redeemer - came true.
The students say that Rabbi Kaduri told them he met the Messiah on Cheshvan 9,
5764 (Nov. 4, 2003). He reportedly said that the Messiah is not promoting
himself, and that a study of his [Rabbi Kaduri's] words in recent months would
provide hints of his identity.
Thursday, 1 Shvat
Rav Nota of Chelm, the Neta Shaahuim (1812)
Rav Moshe Schick, the Maharam Shick (1807-1879). His “last name” was created by
his family in response to a demand by government agencies; it is an acrostic for
“Shem Yehudi Kodesh.” Born in Brezheva, a small town in Hungary, he was sent at
the age of 11 to learn with his uncle, Rav Yitzchak Frankel, av beis din in
Regendorf. When he was 14, he was sent to learn under the Chasam Sofer in
Pressburg, where he stayed for six years. When he was 20, he married his cousin,
Gittel Frankel. He was appointed Rav in Yargen in 1838, the year of the Chasam
Sofer’s petira, then became Rav in Chust.
Rav Moshe Yechiel Halevi Epstein from Ozerov (1890-1971), great-grandson of Rav
Leibish, the first Ozerover Rebbe. In 1912, he became Rav of Ozerov and in 1918,
he replaced his father as Rebbe. During World War I, Ozerov burned down, with
only 22 houses left standing (only 11 of Jewish inhabitants). In 1920, he
traveled to America to publicize the importance of Agudas Israel, and in 1927,
he moved his family to the Bronx. He moved to Eretz Yisrael in 1949 and settled
in Tel Aviv. Rav Moshe Yechiel wrote two monumental works, Aish Daas, comprised
of 11 volumes, and Be’er Moshe, 12 volumes on Chumasah and Tanach. Each volume
contained at least 500 pages, over 10,000 pages in all. Two biographies have
been written about him, “Balabas Aish” and “The Aish Daas of Ozerov.” Rav Moshe
Yechiel was succeeded by his son-in-law, Rav Tanchum Binyamin Becker.
Rav Avraham Yehuda Farbstein (1917-1997), Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Chevron. Rav
Farbstein's father was one of the founders of Bnei Brak and was head of its
first city council. As a youth, Reb Avraham Yehuda studied in the Chevron
Yeshiva and the Mir Yeshiva in Europe. Rav Farbstein's wife was a daughter of
Rav Yechezkel Sarna, He taught in the Chevron Yeshiva for 50 years.
Rav Binyamin Rabinowitz, chaver beis din of Eida Chareidis (2002)
Rebbetzin Menucha Ettel (bas Avraham) Nekritz (1914-2006), granddaughter of the
Alter of Novardok, and the daughter of Rav Yaffen, the rosh yeshiva of Novardok
in Poland. Born in 1914 in Bialystock, Poland. She was named after Rav Chaim
Shmuelevitz's mother Ettel — the sister of her mother — with the name Menucha
added because her aunt had died young. The Alter was niftar when she was six
years old, and her father, Rav Yaffen, ran the large network of Novardok
yeshivas that were spread out all over Poland. Its nerve center was in
Bialystock. She married Rav Yehuda Leib Nekritz in 1935.
Friday, 2 Shvat
Asher ben Yaakov Avinu
Rav Menachem Mendel Krochmahl of Nikolsburg, the Tzemach Tzedek (~1600-1661). He
learned in Krakowat the yeshiva of the Bach, his rebbi muvhak and had a close
relationship with the Taz. In 1631, he fled Krakow because of the uprisings of
the Cossacks and settled in Moravia, becoming Rav in Krezmir. He later became
Rav in Prosnitz, then in 1648 of Nikolsburg. There is a sefer called Pi Tzadik
which has been attributed to him, but research has determined that the author is
his son, Rav Aryeh Yehuda Leib.
Rav Meshulam Zusha (Rebbe Reb Zusha) from Anapoli (Hanipol) (1718-1800).
Disciple of Magid of Mezritch; younger brother of the Noam Elimelech.
Rav Simcha Bunim (ben Menachem Mendel) Kalish of Otvotzk and Teveria, son of the
Vorker Rebbe. (1907)
Rav Tzvi Hersh Rabinowitz (1910)
Rav Yisrael Chaim Kaplan, talmid at Mir, son-in-law of Rav Yerucham Levovitz,
mashgiach at Beth Medrash Elyon in Monsey from mid-1940s until his petira
(1970).
Rav Mansour Ben Shimon, author of Shemen HaMaor (1998)
Next Shabbos, 3 Shvat(Parashas Bo)
Rav Yosef Katz, brother-in-law of the Rema and author of She’eris Yosef (1591).
Rav Yosef Rakover, Rav of Eibeshetz, author of Mirkeves Hamishna (1703)
Rav Pinchas of Plotzk, talmid of the Vilna Gaon, and author of Maggid Tzedek
(1823)
Rav Simcha Bunim of Peshischa (1767-1828). After learning at Mattersdorf and
Nikolsburg, Rav Simcha Bunim was introduced to chasidus by his father-in-law,
and became a chasid of the Magid of Kozhnitz and then the Chozeh of Lublin. He
followed Rav Yaakov Yitzchak (the Yid Hakadosh) as leader of Pshischa,
emphasizing Torah study. Among the followers of his methods were the Kotzker
Rebbe, the Vorker Rebbe, the Chadushei Harim of Ger and Rav Chanoch of
Alexander.
Rav Moshe Yehuda Leib Zilberberg, Rav of Kutna and Yerushalayim, author of Zayis
Raanan and Tiferes Yerushalayim (1865)
Rav Yechezkel Shraga (ben Yehoshua Heshel) Frankel-Teumim (1885). The grandson
of Rav Baruch (the Baruch Taam), Rav Yechezkel Shraga was a close of chassid of
his uncle, the Divrei Chaim of Sanz. He was appointed Rav of Klasna-Vielitshke,
two towns which were located close to each other. His thoughts on Chumash and
halacha are written in the sefer Divrei Yechezkel. He was succeeded by his
son-in-law, Rav Shmuel Shmelke Azriel Frankel-Teumim.
Rav Yosef (ben Menachem) Kalish, Rebbe of Amshinov (1878-1935). A grandson of
Rav Yaakov Dovid of Amshinov, and great-grandson of Rav Yitzchak of Vorka. Rav
Yosef was appointed Rav of Ostrova at the age of 27. He then succeeded his
father in 1918. His son, Rav Yaakov Dovid (1906-1942), became Rebbe of Amshinov,
upon Rav Yosef’s petrira.
Rav Yerachmiel (ben Meir Mordechai Dovid) Unger (1916-1999). In 1909, Rav
Yerachmiel’s father moved his family from Melitz, Galicia, to New York. Rav
Yerachmiel married a daughter of the Kamarna Rav in 1934, and he served as magid
shiur at Yeshivas Chasam Sofer for many years. He moved to Boro Park in 1962,
and became a mispallel at the Amshinover shul, where he became to be the
official posek.
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