Jewish History Soundbites

"Those Who Know Don't Speak" The Story of the Kotzk-Izhbitz Dispute

During the active years of the court of Rav Menachem Mendel Morgenstern- the Kotzker (1787-1859), one of his closest students was Rav Mordechai Yosef Leiner (1801-1854) of Izhbitz (Izbica). A series of events in 1839 led to a split in their diverging paths.

As the Kotzker became more reclusive in his behaviour, Rav Mordechai Yosef felt that the chassidim needed more proactive leadership. The final break became an inevitable reality following Simchas Torah of that year. The Kotzker's most loyal chassid Rav Yitzchak Meir Alter (the Chiddushei Harim) stood at his side with many others, but the Izhbitzer went off to found his own dynasty.

The story which led to this decisive split is shrouded in mystery until this very day.

 

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The Chernobyl Crisis: Chernobyl Part II

At the turn of the twentieth century, the various Chernobyl dynasties were flourishing though they faced financial crisis. With World War One and the subsequent Russian Revolution, they all began to face an existential crisis. Though some branches of the dynasty heroically tried to sustain life under increasingly adverse conditions within the Soviet Union, most chose emigration.

Rachmastrivka to the Holy Land, Trisk to Poland, Skver to Romania, Tolna, Makarov, Chernobyl and Hornosteipel to the United States. In each of their new locales, attempts were made to rebuild Chernobyl. With the decimation of the Holocaust, it was up to places like New Square in New York to give a rebirth to the Chernobyl dynasty.

 

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One Din: Rav Simcha Zelig the Dayan of Brisk

One of the unique pre war Torah giants - and ultimately Holocaust victim - was the Dayan of Brisk, Rav Simcha Zelig Reguer (1864-1942). Brisk was home to a large and prestigious Jewish community, and Rav Simcha Zelig served as the beloved Dayan and posek through the tenures of both Rav Chaim Brisker and his son Rav Velvalleh the Brisker Rov.

Wise and modest, he had studied in the Volozhin Yeshiva before becoming Rav Chaim's right hand man, while also overseeing the local yeshiva for many years. With the outbreak of the war, he remained in the city and was murdered along with its inhabitants by the Nazis.

 

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The Diffusion of Chernobyl: A Dynasty Spreads

One of the oldest dynasties in the history of the chassidic movement, Chernobyl traces its growth from Rav Nachum Twersky the Maor Eynayim (1730-1797) through his son Rav Mottel the Chernobyl Maggid (1770-1837).

One of the most influential courts in all of the Russian Jewish Pale of Settlement, with the Chernobyl Maggid's passing in 1837 his empire was divided among his eight sons. Over the course of the 19th century, the various branches of the Chernobyl dynasty - Chernobyl, Tolne, Rachamastrivka, Skver, Trisk, Hornosteipel and others - would dominate chassidic life in Ukraine.

 

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A Humble Giant: The Early Years of Rav Aharon Leib Steinman

A greatly respected Torah leader of recent times, Rav Aharon Leib Steinman (1914-2017) spent the last 60 years of his long life in Bnei Brak. Prior to that were quite a few stops along the way, each stage shaping his development.

A childhood in Brisk led to his studying in the local Toras Chesed Yeshiva of Rav Moshe Sokolovsky. Escaping the Polish army draft to Switzerland, he joined a Yeshiva there, eventually marrying and making his way to Israel.

Moving to Kfar Saba, he was the head of the Chafetz Chaim Yeshiva there until moving to Bnei Brak in the 1950's.

 

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The Mashgiach: Memories of Rav Aharon Chodosh

In this tribute episode following the passing of the Mir Mashgiach Rav Aharon Chodosh (1930-2020), personal memories of this great baal mussar, educator and fatherly figure. As an incredibly unique mashgiach, his relationship with his students enabled them to grow as individuals and achieve their potential.

These recollections and anecdotes record interactions which express his care, wisdom and love, while at the same time also shed light on his sense of humor, down to earthness and unpretentiousness. 

From his aristocratic background in the Chevron Yeshiva to his uncanny ability to be able to relate to a diverse student body as the Mir mashgiach for over a half a century, through spending every Yom Tov with his joy and excitement, to witnessing his wisdom and influence on his students lives.

The Mashgiach will be forever remembered and beloved by all who knew him.

May his memory be a blessing.

 

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From Brooklyn to Beit Safafa: The Incredible Life of Rabbi Mordechai Elefant

One of the most energetic and at the same time eccentric characters on the Jewish scene of the post war was Rabbi Mordechai Elefant (1930-2009). Growing up in New York in the 1940's he became a student of both Rav Aharon Kotler and Rav Leib Malin. Moving to Israel in the 1950's, he forged a connection with the Rav Velvel Soloveitchik - the Brisker Rov and with other leading rabbis of the day.

He immediately threw himself into a lifelong objective of building and fundraising for Torah institutions. The nucleus of what was to become his ITRI Yeshiva began in the Romema neighborhood of Jerusalem. He would later build a small neighborhood there aptly named Kiriyat Itri. The Yeshiva itself eventually settled in its permanent campus on the outskirts of the Beit Safafa neighborhood following the Six Day War.

Renowned for his fundraising talent, political connections with Israeli politicians like Moshe Dayan and Teddy Kollek, United States politicians like Hubert Humphrey and Gerald Ford, his eccentricities and antics, and most of all his boundless energy and desire to build Torah.

 

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A Tzadik Arrives in Tzfas: The Life of the Bas Ayin

Rav Avraham Dov of Ovruch (yidd. Ovrutsch) (c.1765-1840) is known for his highly acclaimed chassidic work 'Bas Ayin'. As he has become something of a more popular figure in recent years, it's an opportunity to study his life and illustrious career. He was a follower of the Chernobyl chassidic dynasty, and served as a communal rabbi and chassidic leader in Ovruch and Zhitomir, Ukraine.
In his later years, he settled in the Land of Israel, where he became the leader of the chassidic community of Tzfas. During the ensuing decade of the 1830's, the community faced great upheavals with the Syrian Peasant Revolt, the great earthquake of 1837 and the Druze revolt. Through it all, the Bas Ayin was a responsible and charismatic leader, rebuilding the community through times of crisis.
Though he passed away in 1840 during a cholera epidemic, and left no descendents, his legacy lives on through his accomplishments and writings.

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From the Revolution to the Rothschilds: Emancipation & French Jewry

Though taken for granted today, one of the most fundamental changes experienced by the Jewish People in modern times was receiving emancipation - equal rights, citizenship, equality before the law, etc. Commencing with the French Revolution in 1789, the struggle for Emancipation and the challenges along the way became the story of the Jews in the 19th century.

Napoleon convened the Grand Sanhedrin in 1807 which asked French Jewry pointed questions about the relation of the Jew to the modern state. France produced notables like Adolphe Cremieux who would be involved in the founding of the first international Jewish organization in the form of the Alliance, as well as promulgating legislation which bestowed French citizenship on Algerian Jewry.

The Rothschild banking family became 19th century Jewish folk heroes as the ultimate expression of the success of emancipation. Though they achieved great wealth, prestige and power, they also were to be used as stereotypical tropes by anti-Semites, as well as raising questions about how emancipation may lead to assimilation.

 

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The Life of Rav Aharon Kotler Part II: Rebuilding Anew

Sponsored by 20 Minute Daf. Check out 20minutedaf.com for a clear and concise daily daf yomi shiur.

 

As the Yeshiva in Kletzk grew, a building was built and dedicated and Rav Aharon had to travel to the United States to fundraise. Aside from being the youngest and yet one of the most prominent Roshei Yeshiva at the time, he also rose to be among the leadership of the Polish Agudas Yisroel, participating in the third Knessia Gedolah in Marienbad in 1937. 

With the outbreak of the War, Kletzk fled to Vilna along with most other Yeshivas at the time. Ultimately settling in Yanova, with the Soviet takeover of the Baltic States in the summer of 1940 the Yeshiva dispersed to several Lithuanian shtetls with Rav Aharon and the largest group in Salock.

By the end of 1940 the Sovietization of Lithuania made it difficult to maintain the continuation of the Yeshiva. Rav Aharon felt that he'd be able to accomplish more from the outside headed out of the Soviet Union in February 1941, arriving in Penn Station in New York City in April of that year.

Though he threw himself full time into the rescue work of the Vaad Hatzalah, Rav Aharon emerged as an overall rabbinical leader on the American Orthodox scene. In 1942 Rav Nosson Wachtfogel along with a group of like minded friends, founded a kollel in White Plains, NY, eventually inviting Rav Aharon Kotler to serve as its head. With the move a year later to the resort town of Lakewood, New Jersey the American Torah world would be transformed forever.

 

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