The Yeshivos, Gedolim & Kivrei Tzaddikim of Hungary, Galicia & Beyond
"Remember the days of old; consider the years of generation after generation."
— Devarim 32:7
A history of the gedolim, yeshivos, and Chassidic masters of Hungary, Galicia, and beyond — and the kivrei tzaddikim where they rest — across five eras of the Torah world.
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Orthodox Jewish life in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and its successor states · 1867–1944
The world into which Reb Boruch Lieberman was born, and in which his son R' Ahron Mordechai came of age, was the vast multi-ethnic empire of Austria-Hungary — the Dual Monarchy created by the Compromise of 1867 (Ausgleich). For Hungarian Jews, this was a transformative moment: the Emancipation Law of 1867 granted full civic equality, opening professions, universities, and public life to Jews for the first time. Hungary's Jewish population surged — reaching nearly one million by 1910, approximately 5% of the total population — and Hungarian Jews became deeply integrated into the economic, cultural, and intellectual life of the nation.
The Lieberman family was no newcomer to this empire. By the time the Compromise of 1867 was signed, the family had already held the rabbanus of Shenya (Szína) for nearly a century — through Reb Shimon of Shenya (Generation 3, 45 years on the rabbanus) and his sons after him. The roots ran deeper still: through Reb Shimon's marriage to Rebbetzin Malka, the family was bound to the Pri Tzaddik of Csaba — a talmid of the Machatzis HaShekel, brother-in-law of the Nefesh HaChaim of Volozhin, who had stood before the Vilna Gaon and was a talmid of the Chozeh of Lublin. Through these threads the Lieberman line carried, into the empire that began in 1867, the inheritance of Lithuanian Torah, Volozhin yeshivishe Torah, and Polish chassidus all at once.
Yet within this world of emancipation, the Orthodox community faced a crisis unlike any before. The Reform movement — imported from Germany — had taken root among the modernizing Jewish bourgeoisie of Budapest and the larger cities. Traditional rabbanim watched in alarm as centuries of mesorah were cast aside in the name of progress. The confrontation came to a head at the Hungarian Jewish Congress of 1868–69, which attempted to reorganize Hungarian Jewish communal life along lines acceptable to the reformers. The walkout was led by the great talmidim of the Chasam Sofer — among them the Maharyi Assad and the Maharam Shick of Chust — who refused to lend Torah-true Yidden's name to a reorganization that would compromise on halacha.
The Chasam Sofer's legacy — his principle of "chadash asur min haTorah," that innovation in matters of tradition is forbidden — became the bedrock of Hungarian Orthodoxy. His yeshiva in Pressburg (Bratislava) was the supreme institution of Torah learning in the Empire, and his descendants and talmidim fanned out across Hungary and Galicia to hold the line against modernity: the Ksav Sofer succeeded him in Pressburg, followed in turn by the Shevet Sofer and the Daas Sofer; the Maharam Shick built a yeshiva of 800 talmidim in Chust; the Maharyi Assad led from Dunaszerdahely. From Galicia, the Divrei Chaim of Tzanz received she'eilos from rabbanim and kehillos across Hungary, Galicia, Romania, and beyond. It was in this world — of fierce Torah commitment, communal battles, and rapid social change — that the Lieberman family served as rabbanim and dayanim.
The yeshivos of Hungary and Slovakia were not merely educational institutions — they were the living transmission of a civilization. Young men would leave their homes at thirteen or fourteen and travel to distant cities to sit at the feet of a gadol, living in poverty, sleeping on benches, eating at the tables of householders (esn teg), entirely devoted to Torah. The yeshiva world of Austro-Hungary produced generations of leaders who carried its tradition across the globe.
The geography of these yeshivos traced the whole Torah map of the Empire. In the west, Pressburg stood as the supreme institution — founded by the Chasam Sofer and led in unbroken succession by his son the Ksav Sofer, then the Shevet Sofer, then the Daas Sofer. To the east, Chust under the Maharam Shick grew to 800 talmidim; Ujhel under R' Yirmiyahu Loew held 100-150 talmidim and stood in the city of the Yismach Moshe. Bergsas trained generations under the Kol Aryeh and the Chut HaMeshulash. Mád under the Levushei Mordechai drew talmidim from across the region. Unsdorf under the Be'er Shmuel became the kotel of Litvish-Hungarian limud. The chassidic courts of Tzanz in Galicia, Liska in Zemplén, and Munkacs in Carpatho-Rus drew their own students. Felegyhaz later became R' Ahron Mordechai's own kehillah; Páie built its yeshiva under R' Yechezkel Shraga Weinberger הי"ד. In the final generation before the Churban, Galanta, Nitra, and Erlau would shelter the last great yeshivos of European Torah.
What bound these yeshivos into a single world was their common root. Nearly all of them — some two hundred across Greater Hungary between the wars — descended from the giant yeshiva the Chasam Sofer built in Pressburg, his talmidim fanning out to found yeshivos on his model and their talmidim doing the same in turn, so that the whole century from his passing in 1840 until the Holocaust is fairly called "the era of the Chasam Sofer." The Hungarian yeshiva had its own character, distinct from the Litvishe world: there the rosh yeshiva and the town rav were usually two men, but across Hungary the rav of the town was almost always the rosh yeshiva as well; and where Lita prized pure lomdus, the Chasam Sofer's talmidim learned l'maaseh — "לאסוקי שמעתא אליבא דהלכתא", bringing forth a clear halachah l'maaseh — which is why so many of the gedolim of Hungary were also baalei shu"t. The yeshivos divided between the older Ashkenazi (Oberland) style and the chasidishe style of the northeastern regions — Maramoros, Carpatho-Rus, and Szabolcs — where the courts of the Yismach Moshe and his descendants (the Yeitev Lev and the Kedushas Yom Tov of Sighet), of the Liska Rebbe, and of the Munkacser Shapira dynasty defined the spiritual atmosphere; the upheavals of the First World War — which drove chasidishe refugees westward — pushed even the Ashkenazi strongholds toward chassidus. The curriculum centered on Gemara and its commentaries — Rashi, Tosafos, and the Rishonim — with particular emphasis on the Hungarian method of precise textual analysis rooted in the Pressburg tradition. Semicha was withheld until a young man had married and shown himself a yarei shamayim, and in several states a formal rabbinic examination board certified the musmachim. These yeshivos lived until the oppressor arose and destroyed them — Transylvania from September 1940, Hungary until the German invasion of 19 March 1944, and Slovakia until the deportations, where Nitra alone held on as the last yeshiva in occupied Europe. (Framing drawn from R' Tzvi Yaakov Abraham, "Al HaYeshivos b'Hungaria HaNirchavah," in Mosdos Torah b'Eiropah b'Vinyanam u'v'Churbanam, ed. S.K. Mirsky, New York 5716.)
| City | Relevant Information | Rabbonim |
|---|---|---|
| YESHIVA TOWNS | ||
| Mád (Mád, Hungary) | Reb Shimon Lieberman (Gen. 1) · ancestral home of the family |
R' Amram Chassida R' Avraham Yehuda Schwartz (Kol Aryeh) R' Naftali Schwartz (Beis Naftali) R' M.Y.L. Winkler (Levushei Mordechai) R' C.Z. Ehrenreich (Kav Chaim) R' M.L. Ehrenreich הי"ד |
| Felegyhaz (Kiskunfélegyháza, Hungary) | R' Ahron Mordechai's rabbinate (Gen. 5) · son-in-law's yeshiva |
R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman הי"ד R' Chananyah Y.T.L. Weinberger הי"ד |
| Pressburg (Bratislava, Slovakia) | Mother of all Hungarian yeshivos · ~500 talmidim at peak |
The Chasam Sofer The Ksav Sofer The Shevet Sofer The Da'as Sofer R' Yissachar Shlomo Teichtal הי"ד |
| Galanta (Galanta, Slovakia) | R' Dushinsky's first rabbinate · later Yeshivas Galanta |
R' Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky R' Yehoshua Buxbaum |
| Nitra (Nitra, Slovakia) | The last great Slovakian yeshiva | R' Shmuel Dovid Ungar |
| Shoran (Šurany, Slovakia) | 300 talmidim · one of the largest in Hungary | R' Meir Yehuda Leib Freya הי"ד |
| Unsdorf (Huncovce, Slovakia) | Where R' Ahron Mordechai studied | R' Shmuel Rosenberg (Be'er Shmuel) |
| Serdahel (Dunajská Streda, Slovakia) | Four generations of Torah leadership |
The Maharyi Assad R' Ahron Shmuel Assad R' Hillel Weinberger הי"ד |
| Kashau (Košice, Slovakia) | Reb Boruch Lieberman's city |
R' Moshe Jungreis R' Shaul Brach |
| Ungvar (Uzhhorod, Ukraine) | R' Ahron Mordechai's arena | The Maharam Asch R' Shlomo Ganzfried (Kitzur Shulchan Aruch) R' Chaim Tzvi Mannheimer (Ein HaBdolach) |
| Chust (Khust, Ukraine) | Where R' Naftali Herzka studied |
The Maharam Shick The Arugas Habosem R' Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky |
| Ujhel (Sátoraljaújhely, Hungary) | Rebbetzin Malka buried here |
The Yismach Moshe The Yeitev Lev (early years) R' Yirmiyahu Loew (Divrei Yirmiyahu) The Binyan Dovid The Lev HaIvri |
| Sighet (Sighetu Marmației, Romania) | Where the Bikszader Rebbe learned |
The Yeitev Lev The Kedushas Yom Tov The Atzei Chaim R' Yehuda Modern |
| Tasnad (Tășnad, Romania) | Compared to Volozhin · family cousin | The Maharam Brisk הי"ד |
| Senmihaly (Tiszavasvári, Hungary) | R' Naftali Herzka on shmos hachosmim |
R' Yehuda Greenfeld The Maharshag (family descendant) |
| Paya (Ópályi, Hungary) | 200+ talmidim during WWII · family cousin | R' Yechezkel Shraga Weinberger |
| Fehergyarmat (Fehérgyarmat, Hungary) | Gave semicha to R' Chananyah Y.T.L. | R' Shmuel Dovid Yungreis (founder of the yeshiva) R' Zev Wolf Ginzler (Toldos Yisrael) |
| Bagad (Nyírbogát, Hungary) | The Bikszader Rebbe served as dayan |
R' Shlomo Yehuda Leib Weinberger The Bikszader Rebbe (as dayan) |
| Pupa (Pápa, Hungary) | Yeshivas Etz Chaim · ~300 students | R' Yaakov Yechezkel Grunwald |
| Bergsas (Berehove, Ukraine) | Four generations of rabbanim · Yeshivas Kol Aryeh |
R' Yitzchak Rachlitz R' A. Y. Schwartz (Kol Aryeh) R' Shlomo Sofer (Chut HaMeshulash) |
| Aderdam (Ardud, Romania) | Rebbi of the Bikszader Rebbe | R' Mordechai Yehuda Loew |
| Balassagyarmat (Balassagyarmat, Hungary) | Reb Boruch Lieberman's city · champion of Hungarian Orthodoxy | R' Aharon Dovid Deutsch (Goren Dovid) R' Yosef Yisrael Deutsch (Ben Garni) Reb Boruch Lieberman (dayan) |
| Erlau (Eger, Hungary) | 94 years old at his deportation · murdered Sivan 5704 | R' Shimon Sofer (Hisorerus Teshuvah) הי"ד |
| CHASSIDIC COURTS | ||
| Tzanz (Nowy Sącz, Poland) | Founder of the Sanz dynasty | The Divrei Chaim |
| Belz (Belz, Ukraine) | The Belzer chassidic dynasty |
The Sar Shalom of Belz The Maharid (3rd Belzer Rebbe) |
| Brod (Brody, Ukraine) | Ancestor of the Bikszader Rebbe | R' Chaim of the Brody Kloyz |
| Munkatch (Mukachevo, Ukraine) | 1926 Munkacz conflict with R' Ahron Mordechai |
R' Shlomo Shapira (1st Munkacser) R' Tzvi Hersh Shapira (2nd Munkacser) The Minchas Elazar |
| Selish (Vynohradiv, Ukraine) | Yeshivas Beis Yosef of Spinka | The Chakal Yitzchak |
| Satmar (Satu Mare, Romania) | Refuge of the Bikszader Rebbe (1921-1944) |
The Keren LeDovid (R' E.D. Greenwald) R' Yoel Teitelbaum (the Satmar Rebbe) |
| Bikszad (Bixad, Romania) | Mechaber Shem Eliezer | R' Eliezer Fisch (Bikszader Rebbe) הי"ד |
| TZADDIKIM & LOCAL REBBES | ||
| ✦Kerestir (Bodrogkeresztúr, Hungary) | The famed baal mofes | Reb Shayele of Kerestir |
| ✦Liska (Olaszliszka, Hungary) | Early Hungarian chassidus |
Reb Tzvi Hersh of Liska The Shaarei HaYosher |
| ✦Tshenger (Csenger, Hungary) | Talmid of Rav Herzkele |
R' Moshe Spitz R' Asher Anshil Yungreis |
| ✦Ratzfert (Újfehértó, Hungary) | Maternal great-grandfather of Rebbetzin Frimet |
Rav Herzkele Ratzferter R' Shalom Eliezer Halberstam הי"ד |
| SITE OF MARTYRDOM | ||
| ✕Oshvitz (Oświęcim, Poland) | Spring 1944 — virtually every kehillah on this map deported over 8 weeks · הי"ד | Hashem yikom damam |
Founded and led by R' Yehuda Greenfeld as Rav and Rosh Yeshiva until his passing in 1907. Succeeded by his son R' Shimon Greenfeld (the Maharshag) — talmid muvhak of the Maharam Shick — who led the yeshiva until his passing in 5690 (1930), by which time ~100 students were learning there. The yeshiva continued after his passing until the outbreak of WWII. On Isru Chag Pesach 1944 the Jews of Bűdszentmihály were concentrated and transported to Nyíregyháza, then to Auschwitz. The Maharshag's sefer takes his own name — Shu"t Maharshag — and he himself was named after his great-great-great-grandfather Reb Shimon Lieberman of Shenya (Generation 3 of the Lieberman family), from whom he descended directly through his father R' Yehuda Greenfeld, grandfather R' Shmaya Chassid of Ujhely, and great-grandfather R' Avraham Feldman — son-in-law of Reb Shimon of Shenya.
Founded by R' Amram Rosenboim (R' Amram Chassida), Rav of Mád until his aliyah to Tzfas in 1830 — the very Rav during whose tenure Reb Shimon Lieberman (Generation 1) lived in Mád. The yeshiva continued for over a century under successive Roshei Yeshiva: R' Avraham Yehuda HaKohen Schwartz (Kol Aryeh), R' Naftali HaKohen Schwartz (Beis Naftali), and reached its greatest heights under R' Mordechai Yehuda Leib Winkler (Levushei Mordechai), Rosh Yeshiva from 5661 (1900) until his passing in 5692 (1932). Among his talmidim: the Maharam Brisk and R' Dovid Yehuda Zilberstein, ABD Vac. Succeeded by R' Chaim Tzvi Ehrenreich (Kav Chaim) and then his son R' Moshe Yehuda Leib Ehrenreich הי"ד — the last Rav of Mád, murdered in the Holocaust. Mád — the city of our family's origins — was a seat of Torah learning for over a century.
Margareten — Margitta in Hungarian, today Marghita in Bihor county, Romania — sits in the Partium just over the present Hungarian border, some 57 km northeast of Grosswardein (Oradea); through the interwar years it was a Romanian town, but in its rabbinic and family life it belonged wholly to the Hungarian Torah world. A Jewish presence is recorded from the early 18th century, with a wooden shul by 1762 and an organized kehillah and chevra kadisha from the 1840s. By 1930 some 1,600 of the town's roughly 6,000 residents were Jews.
The kehillah's defining rabbinic line was the Weinberger dynasty. After R' Hillel Lichtenstein, his friend R' Yehoshua Aharon Tzvi Weinberger (the Mahari"atz) became Rav of Margitta and the region; he was succeeded by his son R' Shmuel Zalman Weinberger, who led the kehillah and its yeshiva for some forty years, and then by his grandson R' Mordechai Azriel Weinberger, who was murdered al kiddush Hashem on 3 Sivan תש"ד. The town's beis din and yeshiva drew distinguished figures — among them the Maharam Brisk, who served eight years as dayan and moreh tzedek in Margitta (a son-in-law of R' Shmuel Zalman) before becoming Rav and Rosh Yeshiva of Tasnad — and the young R' Moshe Yehuda Leib Ehrenreich (later the last Rav of Mád), another son-in-law of R' Shmuel Zalman, who served here as dayan, moreh tzedek, and maggid meisharim.
When the Germans occupied Hungary in March 1944 and northern Transylvania with it, about 2,100 of Margitta's Jews — roughly a quarter of the town — were deported; some 1,650 were murdered at Auschwitz-Birkenau at the start of Sivan תש"ד. A small remnant returned after the war and slowly emigrated; by the late 1970s only a handful of Jews remained.
The Mother of All Hungarian Yeshivos
The roots of the Pressburg Yeshiva reach back to the early 18th century, when a beis medrash was established in the Schlossberg quarter of the city. By the end of the century, under the auspices of Chief Rabbi Meir Barbi, it had grown into a recognized yeshiva — counted among the important rabbinic centers of Central Europe, alongside Prague and Nikolsburg.
The Chasam Sofer — The Golden Age. In 1806, Rabbi Moshe Sofer — the Chasam Sofer — was elected chief rabbi of Pressburg, inaugurating the golden age of the yeshiva. Born in Frankfurt in 1762, he had previously served in Mattersdorf. He led the community for 33 years until his passing in 1839. Each masechta was learned systematically from beginning to end with deep iyun. Talmidim between 18 and 19 were accepted, provided they had previously studied in a recognized yeshiva. When he assumed office it had several dozen talmidim; their number grew to over 250, eventually reaching 500. What made Pressburg unique was its curriculum: rigorous examinations, courses in public speaking — unlike Volozhin where great orators were self-made, in Pressburg this was formal study — and talmidim spent time studying with laymen. Tanach and grammar were stressed. The civil authorities required rabbinic candidates to demonstrate secular knowledge; talmidim took private lessons and were tested at year's end by qualified teachers. All talmidim were exempted from military service. He stood at the forefront of the battle against the Haskalah and Reform — coining "Chadash Asur Min HaTorah." Under his influence, dozens of yeshivos using the Pressburg format were founded across Hungary. Among his illustrious talmidim: the Maharam Shick (Rosh Yeshiva of Chust (Huszt) — 800 talmidim); R' Avraham Yehuda HaKohen Schwartz (Kol Aryeh, Rav of Mád); R' Hillel Lichtenstein (Maskil El Dal); and R' Ahron Dovid Deutsch (Goren Dovid, Rav of Balassagyarmat — Reb Boruch Lieberman's Rav).
The Ksav Sofer (1815–1871) succeeded his father. Under him the yeshiva grew to 400 talmidim; in 1857 it was formally recognized as an official institute for rabbinic training. Kaiser Franz Joseph I recognized it as an official theological college. Among his talmidim: R' Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld (later Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem); R' Simcha Bunim Sofer (the Shevet Sofer, his son); and R' Yaakov Beilush — father of Rebbetzin Frimet, mother of R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman הי"ד.
The Shevet Sofer (d. 1906) brought the yeshiva to its peak of 500 talmidim. He established a cafeteria so talmidim would not eat at a different family's table each day. A 1903 booklet lists 240 talmidim — among them R' Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky; R' Asher Anshil Yungreis (Rav of Csenger, talmid of Rav Herzkele); and R' Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz (founder of Torah Vodaas).
The Da'as Sofer (from 1907) led through WWI, the Habsburg breakup, and Czechoslovakia. Following Hitler's invasion in 1938, R' Akiva Sofer fled to Switzerland then Jerusalem, founding the Pressburg Yeshiva of Jerusalem in 1950 in Givat Shaul — which continues to this day.
Family Connection. R' Yaakov HaLevi Beilush — father of Rebbetzin Frimet and father-in-law of R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman — studied in Pressburg under the Ksav Sofer.
Led by R' Shmuel Rosenberg — the Be'er Shmuel — one of the foremost Hungarian poskim of the late 19th and early 20th century. Author of the monumental responsa Be'er Shmuel. His yeshiva was a leading center of Hungarian Torah life. He declared of R' Yehoshua Buxbaum: "He is among the best of my talmidim, and I am sure he will be a gadol beYisroel." The Be'er Shmuel's Rebbetzin was herself a descendant of the Pri Tzaddik of Csaba — the same family as our ancestors.
Family Connection. R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman (Generation 5) studied in the Unsdorf Yeshiva — his primary place of learning. It was here that he absorbed traditions about the Pri Tzaddik of Csaba directly — traditions he later transmitted and which appear in footnote 24 of the new edition of the Pri Tzaddik, citing him by name. After the war, R' Moshe Ahron Mordechai Lieberman (Generation 7) learned in Yeshiva Be'er Shmuel in Boro Park — the yeshiva R' Yosef Yona Horowitz founded in memory of his grandfather R' Shmuel Rosenberg. The grandson of the Be'er Shmuel teaching the grandson of the Be'er Shmuel's own beloved talmid.
Led by R' Yehoshua Buxbaum — talmid of the Be'er Shmuel of Unsdorf. The Galanta Yeshiva uniquely merged the Hungarian yeshiva tradition with the chassidic world — R' Buxbaum was both Rosh Yeshiva during the week and a chassidishe rebbe on Shabbos. In its prime, 230 talmidim learned there, and during the Czechoslovak period the yeshiva received official government recognition as an institution of higher learning. When a large sum was offered to save his life during the Holocaust, R' Buxbaum declined — choosing to remain with his talmidim. Murdered al kiddush Hashem on 26 Sivan 5704 in Auschwitz הי"ד.
Family Connection. R' Chaim Tzvi Lieberman (son of R' Ahron Mordechai, Generation 6) studied in the Galanta Yeshiva.
Led by R' Shmuel Dovid Ungar — one of the most remarkable yeshivos of the 20th century. Through the extraordinary efforts of his son-in-law R' Michael Ber Weissmandl, the yeshiva obtained protected status from the Slovak government and continued operating until Elul 5704 (1944) — when every other yeshiva in occupied Europe had already been closed. R' Ungar had prophesied: "I feel that a time will come when there will be no Torah in all of Europe — and only in Nitra will there be Torah." His words came true precisely.
Family Connection. R' Chaim Tzvi Lieberman (son of R' Ahron Mordechai, Generation 6) studied in the Nitra Yeshiva.
R' Yaakov Yechezkel Grunwald became Rav of Puppa (Pápa) in 5689 (1929) and founded a Chassidic yeshiva that grew to approximately 300 talmidim — one of the largest and most important in Hungary. Passed away 5701 (1941). Succeeded by his son R' Yosef Grunwald, who survived the Holocaust and reestablished the yeshiva in Brooklyn as Kehilas Yaakov — Puppa. The original yeshiva in Puppa was destroyed in the Holocaust of 1944.
R' Yoel Teitelbaum (1887–1979) — the Satmar Rebbe — was elected Rav of Satmar in 1929, having displayed exceptional Talmudic knowledge far beyond the prevailing image of a chassidishe rebbe. Under his leadership the community prospered and his yeshiva attracted talmidim from across Hungary. He was simultaneously Rav, Rosh Yeshiva, posek and chassidishe rebbe — one of the most towering figures of 20th-century Orthodoxy. Author of Vayoel Moshe and Divrei Yoel. Smuggled to Switzerland during the Holocaust, he reestablished the Satmar community in Brooklyn, where it grew into the largest chassidic dynasty in the world.
Family Connection. The Satmar Rebbe's father the Kedushas Yom Tov was a devoted chassid of the Divrei Chaim of Tzanz (Nowy Sącz) — the primary rebbe of Rav Herzkele Ratzferter, maternal grandfather of Rebbetzin Frimet Lieberman.
Ungvár was one of the great Torah centers of Carpatho-Rus. R' Meir Ash — one of the senior talmidim of the Chasam Sofer — led the Ungvár community and yeshiva, succeeded by his son R' Menachem Ash, considered one of the senior rabbanim and roshei yeshiva in Hungary. Among R' Menachem Ash's renowned talmidim: R' Eliezer Deitch (ABD of Bonihad (Bonyhád)) and R' Yosef Meir Weiss (author of Imrei Yosef of Spinka (Szaplonca)). Ungvár was also home to R' Shlomo Ganzfried (1804–1886), author of the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch — the most widely used halachic digest in the Jewish world — first printed in Ungvár in 1864. On 24 April 1869, R' Menachem Ash joined the Orthodox delegation to Kaiser Franz Joseph I alongside the Ksav Sofer and R' Ahron Dovid Deutsch of Balassagyarmat — Reb Boruch Lieberman's own Rav. The community's last rav before the Churban was R' Yosef Elimelech Kahana הי"ד (from 1931) — himself a talmid of R' Shlomo Ganzfried in Ungvár — who led the kehilla and yeshiva until he was deported with his community in the last Ungvár transport to Auschwitz and murdered al kiddush Hashem in 1944.
Family Connection. Ungvár was the seat of the Orthodox Bureau (Lishkas HaYire'im), of which R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman (Generation 5) served as President.
R' Mordechai Brisk (1886–1944 הי"ד) — the Maharam Brisk — was appointed Rav of Tasnad and its district in 1919, having first founded a small yeshiva in Margita (Marghita). At Tasnad his yeshiva grew, in the years before the war, to roughly 500 talmidim — the largest yeshiva in all of Transylvania and Romania, and after Northern Transylvania was rejoined to Hungary in ת"ש (1940), the largest yeshiva in Hungary. He ran it without any administrative office: beyond serving as Rosh Yeshiva he was in effect its administrator, spiritual director, and mashgiach all at once.
The yeshiva included not only a beis medrash but a dormitory, dining room, and kitchen — a deliberate break from the old custom of "essen teg", whereby bachurim ate each day of the week at a different local family's table. The daily seder began at 4:00 a.m. with study until 7:00, shacharis at 8:00 followed by a quarter-hour shiur in Tur Orach Chaim, and ran until 10–11:00 at night — the masmidim continuing until 2 or 3 in the morning. Learning was built around a "shiur pashut" of three blatt gemara with Rashi, Tosafos, Maharsha and Maharam of Lublin (the senior bachurim adding the major Rishonim), a deeper "shiur iyun" on a select sugya, and halacha from Shulchan Aruch (hilchos Shabbos in Orach Chaim and Yoreh Deah), with chumash and Rashi from Thursday night through Motzaei Shabbos and a rigorous cycle of bechinos at the end of each zman. The Rav's celebrated "pesicha" derasha, a sharp pilpul woven with words of chizuk, was delivered about a month into each zman.
Family Connection. The Maharam Brisk was a first cousin twice removed of R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman — the line traced through the Lieberman–Brisk marriage in Generation 3 (see the Maharam Brisk's card for the full chain). Sources: Hamichlol; Hebrew Wikipedia.
Led by three successive generations of distinguished leadership. R' Moshe HaLevi Jungreis (b. c. 5602, d. 4 Sivan 5666/1906) — talmid of the Goren Dovid of Balassagyarmat and of the Ksav Sofer — was appointed Rav of Kashau in 5633 (1873), founding the separate Orthodox community there and strengthening its Torah institutions. When he left Balassagyarmat for Kashau, the Goren Dovid lamented: "The glory has departed from Balassagyarmat — but its sun has risen in Kashau." He was succeeded by his son R' Yitzchok Tzvi Jungreis, and later by R' Shaul Brach. Note: Reb Boruch Lieberman served as Dayan in Balassagyarmat under the Goren Dovid — the very rebbe of R' Moshe Jungreis — making Kashau part of the Lieberman family's direct rabbinic world.
Founded in Nitra, Slovakia by Rav Shmuel Dovid Ungar זצ"ל, who had previously led a flourishing yeshiva in Tyrnau. When the Nitra community invited him to become their Rav, they committed to broad support — and the yeshiva's reputation spread across all of Europe. Its most remarkable chapter came during the Holocaust: when the Germans invaded Slovakia in תש"ב (1942) and virtually every yeshiva in the country was forced to close, the Nitra yeshiva — through the extraordinary efforts of R' Michael Ber Weissmandl (R' Ungar's son-in-law) — obtained protected status from the government, like a hospital. The voice of Torah continued in Nitra until Elul 5704 (1944), the very height of the catastrophe, when every other yeshiva had long since been shut. R' Ungar had prophesied years earlier: "I feel that a time will come when there will be no Torah in all of Europe — and only in Nitra will there be Torah." His words came true precisely. The yeshiva reopened as early as Iyar 5705 (1945) under his son R' Shalom Moshe HaLevi Ungar, but ultimately went into exile — first to Versailles, France, then to America at the call of R' Weissmandl.
One of Hungary's great yeshivos, founded in the early 19th century by R' Binyamin Wolf Rappaport, Rav of Papa 1781–1837. After WWI it was reopened by R' Azriel Naftali Geshtetner. In 5689 (1929), R' Yaakov Yechezkel Grunwald became Rav and established a flourishing Chassidic yeshiva that grew to ~300 students — one of the largest and most important in Hungary. Upon his passing in 5701 (1941) his son R' Yosef Grunwald succeeded him. The yeshiva was destroyed in the Holocaust; only a handful of students survived. After the war R' Yosef attempted to rebuild but ultimately left Hungary with dozens of students, eventually settling in Brooklyn in the 1950s where he reestablished Kehilas Yaakov — Puppa and continued the yeshiva.
The Jewish kehillah of Šurany (known to its yidden as Shoran or Nagy-Shoran) numbered approximately 150 families before the Shoah — most of them Orthodox, kovea'i ittim baTorah, enjoying relative peace and economic prosperity in the Pressburg (Pozsony)-Pressburg region of Slovakia.
Founded in 5667 (1906) by R' Meir Yehuda Leib Freya immediately upon his appointment as Rav of Shoran — succeeding his father-in-law and uncle R' Yeshaya Ehrenfeld. Starting with 15 students, the yeshiva's reputation spread quickly across Hungary and within a short time it had 300 bachurim from across the country and beyond — becoming, in its prime years, one of the most famous and largest yeshivos in Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
In 5678 (1918) a new yeshiva building was constructed including a dining hall (manza) — a striking chiddush for the time, when most bachurim ate "teg" rotating through the homes of the townspeople. R' Meir Leib led the yeshiva for 40 years, personally covering financial deficits from his own funds. Students who learned for six zmanim and contributed to the food fund were exempt from tuition from the seventh year onward — a unique incentive system. The curriculum included daily shiur girsa (two daf with Rashi, Tosfos, Maharsha) and shiur iyun on famous sugyos. Shiurim in Yoreh Deah were given on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The yeshiva also pioneered cash prizes for outstanding talmidim — the first in Hungary to do so.
To spur his talmidim to invest in their learning, the Rosh Yeshiva periodically held public examinations attended by all the townspeople — inviting gedolei Torah to come and test them on their tractate.
Closed 5703 (1943); R' Meir Leib and the entire community were deported to Auschwitz and murdered al kiddush Hashem on כ"ו סיון תש"ד (June 17, 1944).
Founded in 1925 by R' Yechezkel Shraga Weinberger הי"ד (1902–1944) — son of R' Shlomo Yehuda Leib Weinberger, ABD of Bagad (Nyírbogát) — upon his appointment as Rav of Páie (Ópályi), a village in the Hungarian section of Satmar County. The yeshiva grew over the years into an important Torah center conducted in a deeply chassidish atmosphere. The Rosh Yeshiva delivered all his shiurim standing, with fiery enthusiasm — advanced Gemara, Rashi, and Tosafos in the mornings; Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim and Yoreh Deah) in the afternoons; Chumash and Rashi twice weekly interwoven with the ethical teachings of the Maor VaShemesh; and Tanna D'Bei Eliyahu with his older talmidim on Motzaei Shabbos.
Each Shabbos he conducted a tisch with the bochurim — selected talmidim sharing divrei Torah, followed by the Rosh Yeshiva's own droshos, and a second round of chassidish Torah (especially from the Sanzer Rebbes) over the seudah's fruit. His Melaveh Malkah often continued until dawn, captivating his older talmidim with stories of tzaddikim. He maintained close ties with the courts of Belz, Satmar, and Kaliv, traveling to them frequently to draw spiritual inspiration.
A wartime refuge. When WWII began and most Hungarian yeshivos were forced to close, the Páie yeshiva paradoxically expanded, eventually numbering more than 200 talmidim — among them young men who had evaded military conscription or escaped from the Hungarian forced labor battalions (munkatábor). It became one of the last functioning spiritual refuges in the country.
Destruction and rebirth. In 1944, after the German occupation, R' Yechezkel Shraga, his talmidim, and the rest of the Jews of Páie were deported to the ghetto in nearby Mátészalka. On כ"ח אייר תש"ד he was deported to Auschwitz and murdered al kiddush Hashem הי"ד. Of his entire family, only his son R' Moshe Dov Weinberger survived — and after the war he reestablished the Páya Yeshiva in New York, preserving and continuing his father's Torah legacy. Many of the Rosh Yeshiva's teachings and stories were recorded by his talmid R' Peretz HaLevi Lefkowitz in the sefer Niflaos Maasecha.
Family Connection. The Rosh Yeshiva R' Yechezkel Shraga Weinberger was the son of R' Shlomo Yehuda Leib Weinberger, ABD Bagad — who in his earlier years as shochet u'vodek in Téglás was personally honored by Rav Herzkele Ratzferter (Rebbetzin Frimet Lieberman's maternal grandfather), who instructed the people of Téglás to call him up to the Torah with the title "Moreh Moreinu".
Established in Felegyhaz (Kiskunfélegyháza) by Reb Chananyah Yom Tov Lipa Weinberger הי"ד (1914–1942), Dayan of the community and son-in-law of Reb Ahron Mordechai Lieberman, ABD of Felegyhaz. Reb Chananyah had himself learned in the Mád yeshiva under the Levushei Mordechai and afterward, following the Levushei Mordechai's passing, under his successor R' Chaim Tzvi Ehrenreich (the Kav Chaim), and afterward in the yeshiva of R' Zev Wolf Ginzler of Fehérgyarmat (the Toldos Yisrael). He received ksav horaah from R' Zev Wolf and from the Binyan Dovid of Ihel.
After his marriage to Rebbetzin Rochel Leah around תרצ"ו (1936) he remained סמוך על שולחן חותנו in Felegyhaz and established a yeshiva that attracted dozens of talented talmidim. Surviving testimony from those who lived through the Churban recalled — even decades later, with overpowering emotion and longing — those years when "they sat in orderly rows in his yeshiva, drinking from a wellspring of living waters." Alongside the yeshiva shiurim he delivered a regular shiur for the baalei batim on מסכת נזיר, guiding them through the difficult and profound sugyos of that masechta with unusual clarity and sweetness. In תרצ"ח (1938) he was officially appointed Dayan and halachic authority of the community.
The End. In the winter of תש"ב (1942) Reb Chananyah was seized for the Hungarian Munkaszolgálat (forced labor service); on the 4th of Nissan that year word reached Felegyhaz that he was no longer among the living. The yeshiva ceased with him. His manuscripts — gathered by his brother Reb Chaim Shimon Weinberger from his abandoned home after the war — were eventually published as Shaarei Yom Tov, the sole enduring remnant of the yeshiva's Torah.
Family Connection. Both the Rosh Yeshiva and the community he served were direct family. Reb Chananyah was a cousin of R' Yechezkel Shraga Weinberger of Páie (both descend from R' Shmuel Weinberger of Svaliava); he was a nephew of R' Shlomo Yehuda Leib Weinberger of Bagad. The yeshiva sat in the very community where his father-in-law R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman served as ABD until the deportations of 1944.
The kehillah of Fehérgyarmat was founded in the second half of the 18th century, when Jews were invited to settle by the local landowner Count Sándor Károlyi to develop the local commerce. Until 1810 the community was subordinate to the rabbinate of Csenger; thereafter it became an independent kehillah. Following the Hungarian Schism at the 1868–1869 Jewish Congress, Fehérgyarmat joined the Orthodox stream — the same Congress at which R' Yirmiyahu Loew of Ujhel led the Orthodox delegates in their decisive walkout.
The Kehillah and Its Institutions. The community maintained a beis knesses, a beis medrash, a chassidic shtibel, a chevra kadisha, the Tiferes Bachurim society, and an Agudas Bachurim. A formal Jewish school was founded in 1906, alongside the cheder, the talmud torah, and the yeshiva. From 1885, the rabbinate of Fehérgyarmat held jurisdiction over sixteen surrounding villages — Szatmárcseke, Szamosújlak, Darnó, Jánkmajtis, Csaholc, Kisnamény, Penyige, Sonkád, Túristvándi, Tiszacsécse, Milota, Mánd, Tiszakóród, Kérsemjén, Nemesborzova, Nagyszekeres, and Cégénydányád.
The Rabbanim of Fehérgyarmat.
The White Terror. In the period of the Fehérterror following the collapse of the Hungarian Soviet Republic (1919–1921), right-wing paramilitaries imposed an economic and social boycott on the Jews; some were attacked and beaten in the streets. Many Fehérgyarmat Jews emigrated to the United States and Canada in those years.
The Town & Its Jews. Fehérgyarmat lies in Szatmár (Satmar) County, in a region known for heavy rains, flooding, and swampy terrain; the difficult conditions left the town relatively isolated, and Jewish settlement began only in the second half of the 18th century, with the earliest settlers arriving in the migration waves from Moravia. The community's economic life was remarkably diverse — alongside the liberal professions, commerce, agriculture, and trades, there were even net makers and chimney sellers, occupations uncommon among the Jews of Eastern Europe.
The Yeshiva — Founding. The first yeshiva in Fehérgyarmat was founded by R' Moshe Nosson Jungreis, author of Menuchas Moshe; substantial accounts of the yeshiva, however, begin in the era of R' Shmuel Dovid HaLevi Jungreis, who established the enduring yeshiva upon his appointment as Rav in 5628 (1868) and led it until his petirah in 5652 (1892). Under him the bochurim who ate at his table rose early to review before meals; he himself learned עטור בטלית ותפילין in the yeshiva until the afternoon, and instilled a fierce hasmadah — every Chanukah warning his talmidim against playing kvitlach, permitting it only one night and even then cautioning that gambling causes all to lose. His educational approach was unusual for the era: he weighed the bochurim's own views, at times choosing the yeshiva's sugya by lottery together with them, and even folded their comments into his halachic discussions.
The Roshei Yeshiva. From R' Shmuel Dovid the yeshiva passed to his son R' Avraham Binyomin Jungreis, who led it for thirty-nine years until his petirah on 2 Sivan 5691 (1931) — his matzeivah calling him "ירעה נאמן לעדרו צאן מרעיתו, השקיד לתלמידים מבאר תורתו" — "a faithful shepherd to the flock of his pasture, who diligently drew forth for his talmidim from the wellspring of his Torah." The yeshiva's final Rav and Rosh Yeshiva was R' Zev Wolf Ginzler הי"ד, who had first built a major yeshiva in Salgótarján — one of the most important in post-Trianon Hungary, after the country was cut off from the great Torah centers of Pressburg, Galanta, Chust, and Satmar — and who brought most of its talmidim with him when he came to Fehérgyarmat in 5694 (1934).
Scale & Structure. Under R' Zev Wolf the yeshiva grew dramatically — from roughly a hundred bochurim in Salgótarján to nearly two hundred in Fehérgyarmat. Wealthier students ate on a regular meal arrangement while poorer bochurim ate "teg" ("days"); most boarded in local homes, their meals supervised by R' Zev Wolf's brother-in-law R' Moshe Schwartz, and the Rav himself would enter the dining rooms to watch over the bochurim's welfare, ordering more food served if a portion looked small. In his Toldos Yisrael he thanked the Jews of Fehérgyarmat for sustaining the yeshiva and his talmidim — "כבוד האכסניא של תורה קהל עדתי פעהעגירמאט והגלילות יע״א… ומחזיקים אותי ואת ב״ב שי׳ ותלמידי ישיבתי היו יותר מכפי יכולתם" — "the honored hosts of Torah, the holy community of Fehérgyarmat and its surroundings… who supported me, my household, and the talmidim of my yeshiva beyond their means." The regimen was relentless — bochurim in the beis medrash from four in the morning until late at night, with no tolerance for bittul Torah; a bochur who could not adapt would not be invited back for the next zman.
The Learning Order. R' Zev Wolf gave shiurei iyun on Sundays and Tuesdays before noon and taught Shulchan Aruch — Orach Chaim and Yoreh Deah — on Mondays and Wednesdays; toward evening he delivered a shiur pashut covering two dapim weekly with Maharsha and Maharam, while each bochur also maintained a separate independent track of a daf a week in another masechta. Weekly examinations fell on Thursdays, with a comprehensive test at the end of each zman so that every bochur could return home and demonstrate his learning to his local Rav. Among the masechtos studied were Pesachim, Shabbos, Kiddushin, Gittin, Chullin, Kesubos, Nedarim, Makkos, and the three Bavos; in the shiur iyun he employed a sophisticated pilpul on sugyos such as K'Nesach, Shemen Sereifah, Chametz Bizmano, Ger Katan, and Modeh B'miktzas. At the start of each zman he delivered a great opening derashah weaving together the term's three principal sugyos with the parashah — drawing even the local baalei batim, captivated by its brilliance and warmth.
Chassidish Character. The yeshiva carried a strongly chassidish atmosphere in the spirit of Munkács chassidus — long, emotional tefillos, with all the bochurim immersing in the mikveh before davening. Though deeply shaped by the Minchas Elazar, R' Zev Wolf's own derech was "ללא סופה וסערה אלא בחסד, רוח ועדינות" — "not with storm and סערה, but with kindness, gentleness, and refinement." The bochurim were forbidden to shave their beards; when an Oberlander bochur asked the benefit of growing one, he answered, "כשתשוב לביתך יצטרך להתגלח" — "when you return home, you will need to shave" — explaining that as long as a bochur in Fehérgyarmat wore a beard and peyos, there was no fear he would drift.
Under the Restrictions, and the End. In 5699 (1939), when the Hungarian authorities sought to close the yeshiva, it emerged on investigation that Fehérgyarmat held a special nineteenth-century license permitting a yeshiva — and on that basis it was allowed to continue, remaining active until shortly before the destruction of Hungarian Jewry. In 5704 (1944), after the German occupation, R' Zev Wolf Ginzler and his community were deported to the Mátészalka ghetto and from there to Auschwitz, where he was murdered al kiddush Hashem. After the war, R' Yaakov Tzvi Jungreis established a Fehérgyarmat beis medrash in New York, where the spirit and legacy of the yeshiva continue to this day.
The Population. The Jewish community grew from 56 Jews in 1840 to 325 in 1880, 621 in 1910, 679 in 1930, and 774 by 1941 — out of a total town population of 5,779. By 1944 the kehillah recorded 708 members, with 108 children in its two schools, and R' Yaakov Yungreis as rav. (Source: Pinkas Kehillos Hungary, p. 513.)
The End. When the Germans entered Hungary in March 1944, the Jews of Fehérgyarmat were rounded up — with the full cooperation of local townspeople. In April they were transferred to the Mátészalka ghetto, where they were held about a month in dire conditions. The first transport left Mátészalka for Auschwitz in May 1944; by the end of that month the ghetto had been liquidated. After the war, 84 survivors returned — most from forced-labor battalions, a minority from Auschwitz. The community was briefly reorganized, but after the founding of the State of Israel 23 made aliyah and the rest left the town.
Family Connection. Fehérgyarmat was the city of R' Zev Wolf Ginzler, in whose yeshiva Reb Chananyah Yom Tov Lipa Weinberger הי"ד — son-in-law of R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman — received semicha. The Jewish cemetery of Fehérgyarmat still stands today.
The City. Verpelét is one of the older established Jewish kehillos of Hungary, in the wine-growing Heves County of the northeast. Jews settled there at the end of the 18th century — mostly merchants and craftsmen, with a small number of vineyard owners, wine producers, and estate holders. The kehilla organized formally in 1800, establishing a chevra kadisha, women's society, gemilus chasadim chevra, and chinuch institutions. The shul was built in 1870. The community affiliated with the Orthodox stream after the 1868–69 split, and from 1885 served as the mother-kehilla for Yidden of the surrounding villages.
Two Difficult Decades Before R' Yosef Asher. The Yidden of Verpelét were attacked and looted during the Communist revolution of 1918 and again by right-wing nationalists during the post-WWI "White Terror" — the shul's tashmishei kedusha were stolen and the kehilla archive was destroyed.
The Yeshiva. In תרפ"ב (1922), the Verpelét kehilla elected the young R' Yosef Asher HaLevi Pollack — son-in-law of the previous Rav R' Moshe Tannenbaum — to fill the rabbanus. The new young Rav had just emerged from three of the great yeshivos of his generation — Paks under his uncle R' Yosef Yehuda Leib Sofer, Tzehlim/Deutschkreutz under the Vayaged Yaakov, and Pressburg under the Da'as Sofer — and held semicha from both the Da'as Sofer and the Levushei Mordechai of Mád. He founded the yeshiva in Verpelét shortly after his arrival.
The Seder HaLimud. The yeshiva grew to approximately 100 bachurim. The seder was the classical Hungarian model — gemara-Rashi-Tosafos b'derech ha'pshat, special sugyos b'iyun, halacha, and Chumash with Rashi — with weekly shiurim across every track. Before every shiur, R' Yosef Asher learned mussar with the bachurim for roughly a quarter hour. He gave every shiur standing. He demanded chazara — many times — and frequent bechinos, but personally guided his talmidim, inviting them home in groups to show them how to learn and how to chazer.
The Dormitory. As the yeshiva grew, in תרצ"ה (1935) R' Yosef Asher built a new beis hamedrash building containing a dormitory housing some 40 talmidim at its peak together with a full beis tavshil (kitchen) for the bachurim. His drasha at the chanukas habayis of this building has been preserved through the zichronos of his talmid R' Shraga Neiman. Even before the dormitory was built — and continuing afterward — every Shabbos R' Yosef Asher hosted approximately ten talmidim at the seudos Shabbos in his own home, despite his constrained parnassa. Daily, talmidim and oirchei orach ate at his table.
Talmidim of the Yeshiva. The most distinguished was R' Yochanan Sofer, who learned there as a bachur and would later become the Erlauer Rebbe, Rosh Yeshivas Ohel Shimon and presiding member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah, niftar in Yerushalayim in 2016. Another devoted talmid was R' Shraga Neiman — chairman of the Igud Talmidei Verpelét after the war — who preserved his rebbe's memory and dedicated himself to publishing what could be recovered of his Torah.
The Baalei Batim and the Kehilla. Alongside the yeshiva, R' Yosef Asher demanded that the baalei batim of the kehilla set kevi'us ittim laTorah and learn b'chavrusa — not be content with learning b'yachid. Every Shabbos he was dores berabim, and for hours held the kehilla spellbound with words flowing from the depths of his heart, saturated with yiras shamayim ke-eish bo'eres. He visited any home he heard was in need, supporting them quietly.
The Vineyard Yeshiva — Limud Under Cover. In תש"ב (1942) the antisemitic Hungarian government ordered the yeshiva closed; R' Yosef Asher was broken by his talmidim being forced to leave. Yet a significant number of his bachurim hid in a vineyard belonging to one of the Yidden of Verpelét, some 8 kilometers from the town. Twice a week R' Yosef Asher walked out to them, set them a seder ha-limud, and delivered shiurim. The shiurim focused especially on mitzvos ha'teluyos ba'aretz — to teach his talmidim the great value of avodas ha'adamah in Eretz Yisrael — even as they hid in fear in another country's vineyard. R' Yosef Asher had visited Eretz Yisrael in תרפ"ט (1929), and his ahavas haaretz was legendary among his talmidim.
The Surrounding Villages — Mesirus Nefesh of the Rav. As Jews of Verpelét and the surrounding kefarim were drafted into the Hungarian labor battalions, R' Yosef Asher — who had learned shechita — personally took over the shechita work for the villages whose shochtim had been conscripted, traveling out to the kefarim to shecht and to be mechazek their ruach — to uplift their spirits — even as the gzeiros tightened around them.
The Drashos of the Last Years. From ת"ש (1939–40) R' Yosef Asher's drashos increasingly focused on the tzaros of Klal Yisrael. Two are preserved in talmidim's zichronos: in Shavuos תש"ש he stirred the kehilla to rejoice as Hashem commanded — v'samachta b'chagecha — despite the bitter gzeiros. In Shabbos HaGadol תש"ב (1942) he said the now-famous line: "How many of our brothers Bnei Yisrael have not so much as a kezayis matza for the mitzvah — but maror they have!"
The End. In 1942 approximately 30 Verpelét young men were sent to the Hungarian forced-labor battalions on the Ukrainian front, where most perished. In May 1944 after the German occupation of Hungary, the Yidden of Verpelét were taken first to coal mines in the area, then concentrated in a ghetto with Yidden of surrounding villages under severe shortage of food and medicine. On Leil Shavuos 5704, all men aged 48 and younger were transported to Hatvan and from there to Auschwitz; the rest were sent on 11 June via Kerecsend and onward to Auschwitz-Birkenau. R' Yosef Asher was murdered al kiddush Hashem on כ"ז אייר תש"ד (20 May 1944), his rebbetzin Slava on כ"ב סיון, and the kehilla with them הי"ד.
The Sefer. R' Yosef Asher's chiddushim from a lifetime of teaching were lost and burned in the churban; only fragments survived — udim mutzalim me'eish. His talmidim, organized as the Igud Talmidei Verpelét under the chairmanship of R' Shraga Neiman, gathered what remained — drashos and chiddushei sugyos — and published them as Shearis Yosef Asher: Derashos v'Chiddushei Sugyos asher Nisharu LiPleitah k'Udim Mutzalim me'Eish (Yerushalayim, תשל"ד / 1974), with a biographical introduction by his talmid R' Aharon Salzer.
The Legacy. After the Shoah a small number of survivors returned to Verpelét; in 1948 they erected a memorial monument for the 80 Yidden of the town murdered in the churban. By 1965 only a single Jewish family remained in the town. The yeshiva's spiritual legacy lives on in three places: in the seforim of the Erlauer Rebbe and the Erlau dynasty; in the Bais HaMedrash Shearis Yosef Asher in Har Nof, Yerushalayim — founded by R' Shraga Neiman and today led by his son R' Yosef Asher Neiman, named for the murdered Rebbe; and in the sefer Shearis Yosef Asher, which R' Yosef Asher said himself: "I left no children — my talmidim are my children."
Population. 139 Jews in 1840 · 174 in 1880 · 175 in 1910 · 118 in 1920 · 146 in 1930 · 90 in 1941 (out of total town population of 4,193).
Family Connection. R' Yosef Asher received ksav semicha from the Levushei Mordechai of Mád — the same posek who served as Rosh Yeshiva of Mád, our family's founding city, and from whose Mád yeshiva Reb Chananyah Yom Tov Lipa Weinberger הי"ד — son-in-law of R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman — also drew. The Verpelét and Felegyhaz yeshivos thus shared the same Mád-Levushei Mordechai roots, and both were lost in the same year (1942–1944).
One of the great yeshivos of Carpatho-Rus. Led first by the Maharam Shick (R' Moshe Schick, 1807–1879) — the most prominent talmid of the Chasam Sofer — under whom the yeshiva reached 800 talmidim. Succeeded by R' Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky, who led the Chust Yeshiva before moving to Jerusalem where he became Chief Rabbi of the Edah HaChareidis. R' Winkler's daughter Sheindel had married R' Dushinsky — connecting Chust and Mád through one family, as Winkler was Rosh Yeshiva of Mád, our family's founding city.
Family Connection. R' Naftali Herzka Lieberman (Generation 6) studied in the Chust Yeshiva under R' Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky.
Founded after WWII by R' Yosef Yona Horowitz — grandson of R' Shmuel Rosenberg (the Be'er Shmuel of Unsdorf) — in Boro Park, Brooklyn. R' Naftali Herzka Lieberman (Generation 6) learned here after the war, having traveled from Prague to Montreal and finally to Boro Park. His son R' Moshe Ahron Mordechai Lieberman (Generation 7) also learned here — under the Be'er Shmuel's own grandson. The chain of Unsdorf Torah continuing in America: R' Ahron Mordechai learned under the Be'er Shmuel himself in Unsdorf, and two generations later his son and grandson learned under the Be'er Shmuel's grandson in Brooklyn.
The Jewish history of Sighet is almost synonymous with its long line of rebbes from the Teitelbaum family. It began with R' Yekusiel Yehuda — the Yitav Lev (1808–1883), who founded the Sighet Chassidic dynasty and a prominent yeshiva. Succeeded by his son R' Chananya Yom Tov Lipa — the Kedushas Yom Tov (1836–1904) — a devoted talmid of the Divrei Chaim of Tzanz (Nowy Sącz) — and then by R' Chaim Tzvi — the Atzei Chaim (1880–1926). By 1941, 10,144 Jews lived in Sighet — 39% of the population. The entire community was deported to Auschwitz in 1944 הי"ד.
Family Connections. The Kol Aryeh (R' Avraham Yehuda HaKohen Schwartz of Mád) — while living at his father-in-law's table in nearby Ujhel (Sátoraljaújhely) — learned the writings of the Arizal together with the Yitav Lev. Sighet is also the birthplace of the Maharshag (R' Shimon Greenfeld), a direct patrilineal great-great-great-grandson of Reb Shimon Lieberman of Shenya (Szína) (Generation 3 of the Lieberman family) — named after him personally and proudly bearing this lineage.
Founded by the Chakal Yitzchak — R' Yitzchak Eizik Weiss, the second Spinka Rebbe, after he and his court fled Spinka erev Sukkos 5677 (1916) as the Russian army advanced during World War I. The Rebbe ultimately settled in Munkacs, where his father-in-law the Vereczkier Rebbe lived along with a substantial group of Spinka chassidim and the family of his grandfather R' Shmuel Tzvi Weiss (former Raavad of Munkacs). There he established Yeshivas Beis Yosef — named after his father R' Yosef Meir Weiss, the Imrei Yosef — which grew to approximately 150 bachurim.
The Move to Selish. After the bitter conflict with the Minchas Elazar of Munkacs — settled in 1926 with a payment of 100,000 crowns — and the petirah of his Rebbetzin Miriam on 8 Tishrei 5690 (1929), the Chakal Yitzchak departed Munkacs on Parshas Vayishlach 5690 and resettled in Selish (Hungarian: Selish; Slovak/Czech: Selish; today Selish, Ukraine). He transferred the yeshiva there, where it continued to operate as one of the leading institutions of Spinka chassidus — by then one of the three largest chassidic courts in Hungary, alongside Munkacs and Satmar-Sighet (Máramarossziget).
Sheltering Polish Refugees. In the years before the German occupation, the Chakal Yitzchak used his Selish beis medrash as a refuge for Jewish refugees fleeing the Shoah in Poland — ordering a bunker built beneath his home and arranging forged documents. After a Polish Jew was found in his courtyard without papers, the Rebbe was arrested for two days by the Hungarian gendarmerie before being released for lack of evidence.
The End. On Issru Chag Pesach 5704 (1944), the Jews of Selish and the surrounding region — some 10,000 souls — were confined to a ghetto. The Rebbe refused entry visas to Britain and Eretz Yisrael, choosing to remain with his kehillah. He and the entire community were deported to Auschwitz on 1 Sivan; the Chakal Yitzchak was murdered there on 13 Sivan 5704 / June 4, 1944 הי"ד. The yeshiva was annihilated together with its talmidim and its Rebbe.
Generation I — The Maharyi Assad (1853–1866). R' Yehuda Assad — the Maharyi Assad — served as Rav of Szerdahely from 5613 (1853) until his passing on 23 Sivan 5626 (1866), the undisputed head of Hungarian Jewry. He established a yeshiva attended by 150 talmidim, drawn from across Hungary. R' Yaakov HaLevi Beilush — father of Rebbetzin Frimet, mother of R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman — served as a live-in Hoyz-Buchur in the Maharyi Assad's home in Szerdahely.
Generation II — R' Ahron Shmuel Assad (1869–1905). Born 5590 (1830) in Szerdahely, son of the Maharyi Assad. He studied under his father and under the Ksav Sofer, and received semichah from R' Shlomo Kluger, R' Shlomo Zalman Ullmann (Yerios Shlomo), and R' Avraham Shag-Tzwibner. He married Yehudis, daughter of R' Lipman Glazer of Nikolsburg — descended from the Baal Avodas HaGershuni. In 5619 (1859) he was appointed ABD of Kolta, filling in for his brother-in-law. Three years after his father's passing, in 5629 (1869), he was appointed ABD of Szerdahely — a position he held for 36 years until his passing on 6 Nissan 5665 (1905). He corresponded in Torah with the Ksav Sofer and the Maharam Shick, published his father's responsa with his own notes and glosses, and authored multiple works of his own including Chiddushei Rashbid Ash Das, She'elas Shmuel (responsa), and a commentary on Tehillim published together with his father's commentary.
Generation III — R' Shmuel Levi Weinberger (c. 1906–1924). Born 5620 (1860), son of R' Pinchas ABD Nigrescu. A talmid of the Maharyi'atz of Marghita and the Maharam Shick of Chust (Huszt). Even as a young man he corresponded in halacha with the gedolei hador — including R' Hillel Lichtenstein of Kolomea, who was so impressed that he gave him his daughter in marriage, making R' Shmuel Levi his son-in-law and connecting the Weinberger family directly to the great defender of Hungarian Orthodoxy. He served in Kerestir (Bodrogkeresztúr), then Nigrescu, then Nagy-Bánya, before accepting the Szerdahely rabbinate where he led the community for ~19 years until his passing in 5685 (1924).
Generation IV — R' Hillel Weinberger הי"ד (1924–1944). Born 5655 (1894), son of R' Shmuel Levi — and through his mother, grandson of R' Hillel Lichtenstein of Kolomea. He received semichah from R' Shmuel Rosenberg of Unsdorf (the Be'er Shmuel — R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman's own rebbe), from R' Mordechai Leib Winkler of Mád, from R' Yitzchak Glick of Toltsova (Tolcsva), and from R' Yeshaya Zilberstein of Vác. He founded Yeshivas Beis Hillel — named after his grandfather R' Hillel Lichtenstein — which grew to 100–150 talmidim. In 5696 (1935) a magnificent new building was erected, including a dining hall. Though he davened nusach Ashkenaz, his conduct and dress were chassidic, and he occasionally traveled to the Minchas Elazar of Munkacs (Munkács) for Shabbos. He served Szerdahely for 19 years, until he was murdered in Auschwitz in 5704 (1944) הי"ד. His son R' Yechiel Weinberger founded Kehillas Beis Hillel Szerdahely in Boro Park.
R' Chaim Halberstam (1793–1876) — the Divrei Chaim — built Tzanz into one of the supreme centers of chassidic and halachic life in Eastern Europe. He received queries from rabbis and communities across Hungary, Galicia, Romania and beyond. Family Connections: Rav Herzkele Ratzferter — maternal grandfather of Rebbetzin Frimet — traveled to Tzanz for Shavuos for 26 consecutive years. The Divrei Chaim declared of Rav Herzkele: "Al tivtechu bindivim — by him you can be helped." R' Yaakov HaLevi Beilush (Rebbetzin Frimet's father) also traveled to Tzanz.
The Yismach Moshe (R' Moshe Teitelbaum) taught at a yeshiva here for 33 years. Under R' Yirmiyahu Loew (1854–1873) it grew to one of the largest yeshivos in Hungary, with 100–150 talmidim. Family Connections: R' Yaakov HaLevi Beilush studied under R' Yirmiyahu Loew. Malka Lieberman — daughter of the Pri Tzaddik of Csaba, wife of Reb Shimon of Shenya (Szína) (Generation 3) — is buried in Ujhel. The Kol Aryeh lived in Ujhel as a young man and learned the Arizal together with the Yitav Lev.
The Kehillah. Bergsas (Hungarian: Beregszász; today Berehove, Ukraine) was the capital of Bereg county in Hungary until 1919, and again from 1938-1944 — roughly 26 km south of Munkatch. The first Jewish yishuv was established there in 5528 (1768) with four families; by 5590 (1830) the Jewish population had grown to 200, and by the eve of WWII the kehillah had become one of the most important Torah centers of Carpatho-Rus.
The Rabbanim of Bergsas — a chain of four generations.
1. R' Yitzchak Rachlitz (until 5619 / 1859) — first Rav of Bergsas in our records. Talmid of the Chasam Sofer, who personally gave him semicha. Previously served 19 years as ABD of Nyír-Tosh in Szabolcs county before being elevated to the rabbanus of Bergsas, where he served for 21 more years until his petirah on ב' סיון תרי"ט (2 Sivan 5619 / 1859). The Maharam Asch of Ungvar described him in writing as "the wondrous and exalted rav, sharp and broadly learned"; at his levaya the Maharam Asch wept like a river. His matzeivah in Bergsas — by his own tzava'ah — bears no title, only his name. Son-in-law of R' Moshe Spitz, ABD Tshenger (Csenger).
2. R' Avraham Yehuda HaKohen Schwartz — the Kol Aryeh (5621-5641 / 1861-1881). Born in Mád — our family's founding city. Accepted the rabbanus of Bergsas on the express advice of his rebbe the Divrei Chaim of Tzanz (Nowy Sącz). Led a yeshiva of approximately 50 talmidim. Signed the 1869 Sanz declaration alongside Rav Herzkele Ratzferter.
3. R' Shlomo Sofer-Schreiber — the Chut HaMeshulash (from 5643 / 1883). Grandson of the Chasam Sofer and son of the Ksav Sofer; mechaber of the famous sefer Chut HaMeshulash. He helped found the Lishkas HaYire'im, the Orthodox Bureau of Carpatho-Rus, modeled after the central Orthodox Bureau in Pressburg.
4. R' Shlomo Hirsch — the last Rav of Bergsas, who perished al kiddush Hashem together with his entire kehillah in the spring of 1944. הי"ד.
Family Connection: The Kol Aryeh was born in Mád — our family's founding city. His grandsons R' Shlomo Zalman Ehrenreich and R' Chaim Tzvi Ehrenreich later led the Mád yeshiva.
The Talmud Torah of Kelm — the beis hamussar of R' Simcha Zissel Ziv, the Alter of Kelm, foremost talmid of R' Yisrael Salanter — was among the great disseminators of the mussar movement, built upon the seforim of the Ramchal and famed throughout Lita for the exemplary conduct of its talmidim. It was unlike the other yeshivos: there was no concept of an interruption in learning, of any lateness, or of distraction to other things; and where elsewhere the mussar seder ran half an hour, in Kelm it lasted a full hour. Its derech rested on Gadlus HaAdam — bringing a talmid to feel his own worth, and through it the weight of the responsibilities laid upon him.
From Kelm to Slabodka. When the Talmud Torah first closed in תרל"ו (1876), the Alter reopened the beis hamussar in the town of Grobin, in Kurland, before returning to Kelm. It was from Kelm's doctrine of Gadlus HaAdam that the Alter's talmid R' Nosson Tzvi Finkel built the great Knesses Yisrael yeshiva of Slabodka — so that Kelm stands as a fountainhead of the whole Lithuanian mussar world.
After the Alter & the End. After the petirah of the Alter of Kelm in תרנ"ח (1898), the Talmud Torah was led for some three years by his brother R' Aryeh Leib Broida, and then by his son-in-law R' Tzvi Hirsch Broida (d. תרע"ג) together with his son R' Nochum Zev Ziv (d. תרע"ו); their places were filled by R' Reuven Dov Dessler and R' Nochum Zev's sons-in-law R' Daniel Movshovitz and R' Gershon Miadnik. The Talmud Torah of Kelm endured until the Shoah, when the town's Jews — its rabbeim and talmidim among them — were murdered al kiddush Hashem in the Kelm massacre of תש"א (1941).
The yeshiva of Radin was founded in תרכ"ט (1869) by R' Yisrael Meir HaKohen — the Chofetz Chaim, who stood at its head and provided for its every need through its early years. It comprised both a yeshiva and a kollel; the kollel was distinguished by its focus on the order of Kodshim — the laws of the Beis HaMikdash and its avodah — reflecting the Chofetz Chaim's own longing, as a Kohen, for the geulah and the rebuilding of the Mikdash.
The Golden Age. In תרס"ד (1904) the Chofetz Chaim invited R' Naftali Trop — known thereafter as "Reb Naftali Radiner" — to serve as rosh yeshiva; his appointment opened the yeshiva's golden age, and under his leadership Radin grew into one of the largest yeshivos in Europe through the 1920s. In the years 1907–1910 the Mashgiach R' Yerucham Levovitz served in Radin before going on to Mir, and R' Elchonon Wasserman was among those bound to the yeshiva.
War & the End. With the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the yeshiva was exiled with its rabbeim and talmidim to Snovsk, where they suffered hunger, illness, and the afflictions of war. Its last menahel was R' Yehoshua Leib Levinson, a grandson-in-law of the Chofetz Chaim, murdered al kiddush Hashem at the end of 1944. The Radin yeshiva's name and derech were carried onward — among them in the Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim founded in America by the Chofetz Chaim's nephew and talmid R' Dovid Leibowitz.
Founding & the Golden Years. Yeshivas Ohel Torah stood in the town of Baranovich — in Poland between the wars, today in Belarus — from ה'תרס"ז (1907) until ה'תש"א (1941), and was among the most important yeshivos of the interwar Torah world. It was founded in תרס"ז by R' Yosef Yozel Horowitz, the Alter of Novardok. In תרפ"א (1921) R' Elchonon Wasserman — the foremost talmid of the Chofetz Chaim — accepted its leadership, and under him the yeshiva's renown rose markedly. It was a yeshiva for younger bochurim, with six classes and a "kibbutz" for its older talmidim; his shiurim, set down by them, became the widely-learned Kovetz Shiurim, and the yeshiva published a Torah journal, Ohel Torah, edited by R' Yechiel Michel Rabinowitz.
War & the End. By the German invasion of Poland the yeshiva numbered more than three hundred talmidim. With the war's outbreak Baranovich was struck hard; most of the younger talmidim returned to their homes and the older ones scattered. R' Elchonon fled with a number of talmidim to Vilna, and from there to nearby Troki; with the Soviet seizure of Lita in the summer of 1940 the yeshiva moved to the town of Smilishok. Under Soviet harassment R' Elchonon fled to Kovno, leaving the yeshiva in the charge of R' Dovid Rappaport — who was arrested in the yeshiva on Shabbos parshas Beha'aloscha (י"ט סיון), on the pretext of a foreign passport, and sent deep into the Soviet Union to a labor camp. On י"א תמוז תש"א, R' Elchonon, together with talmidim and rabbanim, was taken from the Kovno ghetto and murdered al kiddush Hashem. A small remnant of the yeshiva's talmidim survived and reached safety; and R' Elchonon's son R' Elazar Simcha Wasserman later founded Ohr Elchonon d'California in memory of his father and his yeshiva. הי"ד.
The rabbinic world of Hungary and Galicia in this era was a galaxy of towering figures — halachic giants, chassidishe rebbes, and communal leaders of extraordinary stature. Many of them intersected directly with the Lieberman family story.
The world below is gathered into four streams. The Pressburg / Chasam Sofer halachic line ran through the Chasam Sofer and his unbroken succession — Ksav Sofer, Shevet Sofer, Daas Sofer — together with his great talmidim the Maharam Shick, the Maharyi Assad, the Goren Dovid, the Be'er Shmuel of Unsdorf, and the Kol Aryeh of Bergsas; later carried by the Levushei Mordechai of Mád.
The Hungarian chassidic courts began with the Kaliver Rebbe — R' Yitzchok Aizik Taub, the first chassidishe rebbe to establish a permanent court in the heart of Hungary (1781–1821) — and the Yismach Moshe of Ujhel, the second; continued through the Sighet dynasty (Yeitev Lev → Kedushas Yom Tov → Atzei Chaim) and the founding of Satmar; the Ach Pri Tevuah of Liska with his son-in-law and ממלא מקום the Tal Chaim and grandson the Shaarei HaYosher הי"ד; the Saraf of Tosh and the Tosher dynasty; the Munkacser dynasty (R' Shlomo Shapira → the Darkei Teshuvah → the Minchas Elazar); and Reb Shayele of Kerestir.
The Galician giants who reached into Hungary centered on the Divrei Chaim of Tzanz — to whom Rav Herzkele Ratzferter traveled for twenty-six consecutive Shavuos — together with the Aryeh d'Bei Ilai in Brigel and the Divrei Yechezkel of Shinova (the Divrei Chaim's senior son and the Aryeh d'Bei Ilai's son-in-law).
The final generation — those cut short in the Churban. The era closes with the holy kedoshim who carried the inheritance up to the gates of Auschwitz: Reb Shalom Eliezer Halberstam, the Ratzferter Rebbe הי"ד; R' Chaim Yitzchok Aizik Halberstam, ABD Slatfina הי"ד; the Shaarei HaYosher of Liska הי"ד; R' Yechezkel Shraga Weinberger of Páie הי"ד; R' Hillel Weinberger of Szerdahely הי"ד; the Maharam Brisk הי"ד; R' Dovid Dov Meisels, the Binyan Dovid הי"ד; R' Yehoshua Buxbaum of Galanta הי"ד; R' Zev Wolf Ginzler of Fehérgyarmat הי"ד; and our own R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman of Felegyhaz הי"ד.
The Two Holy Brothers. Born in ה'תע"ז (1717) — by the account of the Hebrew Wikipedia in Tičín; the Michlol records his birthplace as Lapichi — to R' Elazar Lipman and his wife Mirel (Mirish). He was one of six children; his renowned brother was R' Meshulam Zusha of Anipoli, the Rebbe R' Zusha, with whom he is paired in chassidic tradition as one of the two holy brothers. In their younger years the two brothers undertook a self-imposed galus — wandering together through town after town and drawing wayward Jews back to the service of their Creator along the way. Besides Zusha, his brothers included R' Avraham, a physician in Königsberg, and R' Nathan, known as "Schiff." In his youth he learned in Tiktin under the Maharam of Tiktin, where he befriended his rebbe's grandson, R' Shmelke of Nikolsburg.
Talmid of the Maggid — and Heir to His Path in Poland. R' Elimelech became one of the foremost talmidim of the Maggid of Mezritch, R' Dov Ber, successor of the Baal Shem Tov. After the Maggid's petirah he became the continuator of his path in the lands of Galicia and Poland — the first among the founders of the chassidic movement in greater Poland and one of its central thinkers. He established a beis medrash in Lizhensk (Leżajsk) and was known as a tzaddik and baal mofes, drawing people to teshuva and serving as a guide in avodas Hashem. He taught that one who learns Torah b'iyun — humble and fluent in Gemara with Rashi — can reach the highest madreigos in avodas Hashem, provided he returns in teshuva over his sins and his pride; the path to true teshuva, he held, runs through Torah lishmah and a renewal of teshuva at the start of each day. So exalted was his standing in chassidic memory that the Ruzhiner Rebbe is reported to have said that for five hundred years before his birth the world had been sustained in his merit.
Noam Elimelech. His classic sefer, Noam Elimelech, was published after his petirah by his son and talmid R' Elazar; it is reckoned among the foundational works of early chassidus, and it is there that the chassidic ideal of the Tzaddik is given its formulation. The early teaching of the Baal Shem Tov had offered every Jew a path of personal elevation — grounded in the principle that "leis asar panui minei," that no place is empty of the Divine — but as the movement spread it became clear that so mystical a demand was beyond the reach of the masses; R' Elimelech's doctrine of the Tzaddik answered that need. The name of the sefer is understood to weave together the two brothers — Elimelech and Zusha (Yiddish for "sweet," noam). Printed with it are his Tzetl Katan, a short list of practical hanhagos, and the celebrated Tefillah Kodem HaTefillah — the prayer to be said before davening. Also among his writings are the sefer Likutei Shoshana and an Igeres HaKodesh.
The Four Powers. Chassidic tradition records that as his end drew near, R' Elimelech laid his hands upon the heads of his talmidim and granted to the four closest among them his spiritual powers: to the Chozeh of Lublin he gave the power of "the light of his eyes" — asking him to take under his wing his own great-nephew R' Tzvi Elimelech Shapira of Dynów, the future Bnei Yissaschar; to the Maggid of Kozhnitz, the power of his heart; to R' Menachem Mendel of Rimanov, the power of the soul of his mind; and to the Apter Rav, the Ohev Yisrael, the power of his mouth. He further promised that whoever would come up to his grave after his passing would not depart the world without teshuva.
His Household. R' Elimelech married twice. His first wife was a daughter of R' Aharon Rokeach — a brother of R' Elazar Rokeach of Amsterdam; his second wife, Gittel, was of the Margaliot family. Besides his sons, his daughters were Leah Gittel and Mirish. Among his sons-in-law were R' Yisrael Album, R' Shmuel Tzoref, and R' Eliyahu of Sde Lavan; Mirish and R' Eliyahu settled in Rimanov, where his talmid R' Menachem Mendel of Rimanov supported them, and she is buried near the Rimanover's ohel.
His Petirah & His Kever. R' Elimelech was niftar on כ"א אדר ה'תקמ"ז (1787) in his town of Lizhensk, and was succeeded in the leadership by his eldest son R' Elazar of Lizhensk; his other sons included R' Eliezer Lipa, admor in Chmielnik, and R' Yaakov, rebbe in Mogielnica. By his own wish his matzeivah does not record the year of his petirah in the ordinary way; it reads only "נפטר בכ"א אדר שנת תנצב"ה" — the gematria of תקמ"ז being equal to that of תנצב"ה. Before the war an ohel stood over the grave, to which multitudes of chassidim came to daven. In the first generations after his petirah the journey to Lizhensk had not yet become widespread; it was the Tiferes Shlomo of Radomsk — himself a kohen — who rebuilt the ohel, fenced the kever, instituted a perpetual ner tamid, and arranged a special section for kohanim, turning the tziyun into the great gathering-point it became. A tradition preserved by eyewitnesses of the town holds that when the Germans forced the grave open during the war — believing valuables were hidden there — his body was found whole and undecayed, his beard intact, and they hastily reburied it in fear. His kever in Lizhensk remains one of the great pilgrimage sites of the chassidic world, drawing tens of thousands each year on כ"א אדר. Among his descendants who became admorim were R' Elimelech of Rudnik and R' Elazar of Reisha — both buried at kever stops recorded elsewhere on this site.
Predecessor of the Be'er Shmuel on the Unsdorf rabbanus and rosh yeshiva chair — that century-later seat where R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman would learn — and whose son-in-law's son-in-law R' Meir Perls of Karoly was the bachur-rebbe of the Tal Chaim of Liska
Lineage and Family Background. R' Yoav was the son of R' Yirmiyahu Rosenbaum, Rav of Mattersdorf (today Mattersburg, Austria — Burgenland) and Santov (Abaújszántó, Hungary), and grandson of R' Yitzchak Aizik Rosenbaum, Rav of Oshpitzin (Oświęcim, Poland — later infamously known as Auschwitz). His mother was Reizel; he married Bila.
Learning and Early Teaching. He learned in his father's yeshiva in Mattersdorf — the yeshiva on whose city he was later styled — and already in his youth, his father appointed him to teach in the yeshiva and give shiurim there. He emerged in his early years as a recognized talmid chacham.
His Rabbanus — A Chain Across Five Kehillos. R' Yoav served as Rav and Rosh Yeshiva of five kehillos across Poland, Austria, Hungary, and Slovakia:
· ה'תקמ"ח (1788) — Rav of Zarnowitz (today Żarnowiec, Poland)
· ה'תקנ"א (1791) — Called to fill the place of R' Levi Pollak as Rav of Tzeilim / Deutschkreutz (today Deutschkreutz, Austria — Burgenland), where he led a yeshiva
· ה'תקנ"ח (1798) — Moved to Karoly (today Carei, Romania), where he apparently served as Rosh Beis Medrash
· ה'תקס"א (1801) — Became Rav of Unsdorf (Hungarian: Hunfalva · today Huncovce, Slovakia), where he again led a yeshiva — a position he held for six years
· ה'תקס"ח (1808) — Returned to Santov (Abaújszántó, Hungary) to succeed his father on the rabbanus there, where he served until his petirah two years later
The Unsdorf Chair — A Century Before the Be'er Shmuel. R' Yoav served as Rav of Unsdorf and Rosh Yeshiva there from 1801 to 1807. That same rabbanus and yeshiva seat would, a century later, be held by R' Shmuel Rosenberg, the Be'er Shmuel — and would become the kehillah where R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman learned as a young bachur. The Unsdorf chair of Torah leadership reaches back through the Be'er Shmuel to R' Yoav and his earlier century — a continuity of Torah on that very same seat.
The Salary Dispute That Drove Him Back to Santov. The contemporary record preserves a sober detail: after his request for a salary increase from Unsdorf was not granted in 1808, R' Yoav left Unsdorf and returned to Santov to take his father's place. He served as Rav of Santov until his petirah on ד' סיון ה'תק"ע (June 6, 1810).
The Chasam Sofer's Hesped. When R' Yoav was niftar, the Chasam Sofer — who had himself become Rav of Pressburg only three years earlier — delivered his hesped. The Chasam Sofer's hesped stands as a permanent testimony to R' Yoav's stature among the rabbinic giants of that early generation.
His Seforim. R' Yoav left an unusually rich literary legacy:
· Shaarei Binah on the work Shaarei Shevuos attributed to the Rif (Vienna ה'תקנ"ב / 1792). The haskamos to this volume read like a roll-call of the gedolei hador: his father; R' Mordechai Bennet; R' Moshe Mintz; R' Yitzchak HaLevi Rav of Krakow; R' Tzvi Hersh Rosanes Rav of Lvov; R' Shmuel of Pshevorsk Rav of Pressburg; R' Meshulam Zalman Hakohen of Fürth; and R' Elazar Hakohen of Voidislov.
· Modaa Zuta — commentary on Modaa V'Ones of R' Chaim Shabsai of Saloniki, alongside his father's commentary Modaa Rabba (Lvov ה'תקנ"ח / 1798)
· Chen Tov (Zolkva ה'תקס"ה / 1805)
· Imrei Yoav — drashos, with haskamos from later generations including R' Yechezkel Shraga Halberstam of Shinova (the Divrei Yechezkel), R' Yitzchok Yehuda Schmelkes of Lvov, R' Shlomo Halberstam of Bobov, R' Moshe Greenwald of Chust (the Arugas Habosem), R' Moshe Halberstam of Bardfeld, R' Tzvi Yeshayahu Weiss of Donbruva, R' Shraga Tzvi Tannenbaum of Tshata, and R' Moshe Weiss of Zborov
· Shu"t Imrei Noam — vol. 1 on Orach Chaim and Yoreh De'ah published by his grandson R' Chaim Vetriel in Munkacs ה'תרמ"ה (1885); vol. 2 on Even HaEzer published in Brooklyn ה'תשמ"ה (1985). In his teshuvos he corresponds with the gedolei hador, including his father, R' Elazar Loew (the Shemen Roke'ach), R' Yehuda ABD Makava, and others.
The Karoly Chain — A Hidden Connection to the Tal Chaim of Liska. His son-in-law R' Yitzchok Frankel-Halpern succeeded his shver on the rabbanus of Santov, and later became Rav of Karoly. He authored Zved Tov as a complement to R' Yoav's Chen Tov. After R' Yitzchok Frankel-Halpern's petirah in כ"ה תשרי תקצ"ה (1834), his own son-in-law R' Meir Perls — son of R' Yitzchak Moshe Perls — filled his place as Rav of Karoly. This is the very R' Meir Perls of Karoly under whom the Tal Chaim of Liska learned as a bachur before his marriage to the Ach Pri Tevuah's daughter — a hidden link through three marriages binding the Rosenbaum house in Mattersdorf-Unsdorf-Santov to the Liska chassidic dynasty.
His Other Son and Sons-in-Law.
· His son R' Moshe Shmuel Yitzchok — ABD of Siska
· Son-in-law R' Avraham Avish Tannenbaum — Rav of Bodrogkeresztúr (the city of Reb Shayele of Kerestir) and Siska
· Son-in-law R' Shimshon Naftali Spitz — Rav of Berti-Ujfalu (likely Berettyóújfalu, Hungary)
The Maharam Asch Connection — A Marriage Tradition. Two traditions exist concerning the Maharam Asch (R' Meir Eisenstadter), the renowned posek who would later give a haskama to the Pri Tzaddik of Csaba: some say that after R' Yoav's petirah, the Maharam Asch married R' Yoav's almanah; others say the Maharam Asch married R' Yoav's daughter after her own husband's petirah. Either way, the Maharam Asch became closely bound by marriage to the Rosenbaum house.
His Talmidim. Among his talmidim was R' Dovid Yehuda Rottenberg, later Rav of Sanftor and mechaber of Tehillah L'Dovid.
The defining figure of Hungarian Orthodoxy — whose principle of resistance to religious change set the course of Hungarian Jewish life for a century
Birth & Lineage. Born on Erev Shabbos, ז' תשרי ה'תקכ"ג (24 September 1762) in Frankfurt am Main — the eldest son of R' Shmuel Sofer (a sofer-stam, from whose profession the family name was drawn; niftar ה'תקל"ט) and Rebbetzin Reizel (niftar י"ז Adar ה'תקפ"ב). According to tradition, R' Avraham Avish, Rav of Frankfurt, delayed Kabbolas Shabbos until after the birth, declaring of the newborn: "This child will illuminate the eyes of talmidei chachamim with his Torah and save Israel through his prayer." Named after his grandfather R' Moshe Schatten — son of the Maharshach — and after his uncle R' Moshe Frankfurt. His yichus traced back through the Yalkut Shimoni to Rashi.
His Rebbeim. At age three he learned Chumash with a melamed; when the melamed punished him for the depth of his questions on parshas Bereshis, R' Nosson HaKohen Adler instructed his father to teach him personally. From age six he learned with R' Meshulam Zalman Chassid; by age seven he was producing original chiddushei Torah. From age nine he learned at R' Nosson Adler's yeshiva in Frankfurt — Adler became his rebbi muvhak and a father figure to him. By age thirteen he was already publicly delivering halachic drashos. He also learned under R' Mordechai Banet, under R' Pinchas Horowitz (the Hafla'ah), and under R' Tevele Scheuer of Mainz — with whom he also studied mathematics, astronomy, and general history. Other rebbeim listed in his hesped tradition: R' Mendel Lilg, R' Michel Scheuer, R' Yaakov Shemesh, R' Yuda Lissa Katz, R' Nosson Maz, and R' Shmuel Kelin (the Machatzis HaShekel).
Early Career: Prosnitz, Dresnitz, Mattersdorf. In תקמ"ו (1786) he traveled on his rebbe R' Nosson Adler's mission to Prosnitz, Moravia. In תקמ"ז (1787) he married Sara Malka, daughter of R' Moshe Yarwitz of Prosnitz, and became Rosh Yeshiva of the city. He initially refused all rabbanus, but financial necessity led him to accept a rabbinic post in Dresnitz, Moravia in תקנ"ד (1794) — for which he received semicha from R' Mordechai Banet, the Rav HaKolel of Moravia, since by Moravian law one could not serve as Rav without semicha from the chief rabbi of the state. From תקנ"ח (1798) he served as Rav of Mattersdorf (Mattersburg), Hungary, where he founded a yeshiva.
The Golden Age — Pressburg. In תקס"ז (1807) he was called to serve as Rav of Pressburg (Pozsony, today Bratislava) — the largest and most important kehillah in Hungary. He served as Rav of the gallil (district) and Rosh Yeshiva for 33 years until his petirah, also serving as mohel. Each masechta was learned systematically from beginning to end with deep iyun. Talmidim 18–19 were accepted, provided they had previously studied in a recognized yeshiva. The yeshiva grew from a few dozen talmidim to over 250, eventually reaching 500 talmidim — drawn from all over Europe. What made Pressburg unique was its curriculum: rigorous examinations, formal courses in public speaking (unlike Volozhin where great orators were self-made), and talmidim spent time studying with laymen. Tanach and grammar were stressed. The civil authorities required rabbinic candidates to demonstrate secular knowledge; talmidim took private lessons and were tested at year's end. All talmidim were exempted from military service.
His Second Marriage. In תקע"ב (1812), five years after arriving in Pressburg, his first wife Sara Malka was niftar. He then married Sara-Seril — almanah of R' Avraham Moshe Kalisher (ABD Lissa) and daughter of R' Akiva Eiger. All his children came from this marriage: four sons — Avraham Shmuel Binyamin (the Ksav Sofer), Shimon, Yosefa, and Yitzchak Leib — and seven daughters: Hindel, Gitl, Yentl, Simcha, Reichel, Reizel, and Esther. After Sara-Seril's petirah in תקצ"ב (1832), he married the almanah of R' Tzvi Hersh Heller of Alt-Ofen.
"חדש אסור מן התורה" — Father of Hungarian Orthodoxy. The days of the Chasam Sofer were the early years of Jewish Emancipation in Western Europe, and with it came the dawn of Haskalah and the Reform movement. The Chasam Sofer did not greet emancipation with joy — he saw in it a great catastrophe and a temptation that would lead to abandonment of mitzvos and to assimilation. He coined the slogan "חדש אסור מן התורה" — "The new is forbidden from the Torah" — originally a halachic phrase about new grain before the omer — and gave it an original meaning: every change in mitzvos and customs of Israel is forbidden, precisely because it is new, even if it does not contradict the Talmud or poskim. The historian sees in him the first rav who can be defined as Orthodox, the first to wage an uncompromising battle against the Maskilim — while many of his contemporaries (like the Noda BiYehuda) still treated the Maskilim and early Reformers as isolated phenomena that could be handled case by case rather than through total confrontation. The Chasam Sofer formulated a comprehensive, total response.
Why His Stance Was Different. Historians have noted that the Chasam Sofer's all-or-nothing posture emerged from his understanding that his powers as mara d'asra were being eroded by the great transformations in Jewish society. Where the kehillah had once held legal authority to enforce halacha on its members, those powers were progressively curtailed by the state. The growing integration of Jews into the surrounding environment was making the acceptance of religious law increasingly a matter of personal choice rather than communal coercion. The Chasam Sofer understood that the rabbinic position was no longer defensible by mere institutional authority — only by drawing the sharpest possible lines.
His Battles. In תקע"א (1811) he successfully prevented the opening of a school in Pressburg that planned to teach secular studies. Later the Maskilim launched a campaign to close the Pressburg yeshiva — and failed after a stubborn battle on his part. In תקע"ט (1819) he supported the Beis Din of Hamburg against the establishment of a Reform synagogue there — where parts of the tefillah concerning the coming of the Mashiach had been removed, others said in German, all accompanied by organ music. In his teshuvah to those who joined the Reform Temple builders he wrote on כ"ח Teves תקע"ט: "Were the matter in our hands, my opinion would be to separate them from our boundaries. We would not give our daughters to their sons, nor their daughters to our sons — that we should not be drawn after them. And their community should be like the community of Tzadok and Boethus, Anan and Shaul. They to themselves and we to ourselves." (Shu"t Chasam Sofer VI:89).
His Influence & Authority. Not only did his talmidim revere him — even the great talmidei chachamim of his generation including R' Mordechai Banet, R' Akiva Eiger, R' Ephraim Zalman Margalios, R' Moshe Mintz, and many others, revered him, honored him, and granted him a special halachic standing. Jews from communities all over Central Europe (today's Austria, Hungary, Czechia, and Slovakia) turned to him with questions on issur v'heter and other matters. He was considered the final posek upon whom one could rely; his rulings were accepted without challenge in the communities of Hungary in particular and Israel in general. His fame spread throughout all the kehillos, and even non-Jewish judges sent him questions concerning halacha.
Eretz Yisrael. The Chasam Sofer had a special relationship to Eretz Yisrael — its inhabitants, and its settlement. He saw Eretz Yisrael as the source of all spirituality and the essence of holiness in the world, and believed that the principal kiyum haTorah and shmiras hamitzvos is specifically in Eretz Yisrael. In the galus, not only is it impossible to observe all the mitzvos, but the Torah in the entirety of its perfection lies in darkness. He wrote: "The soil of Eretz Yisrael is holier than the heavens of chutz l'aretz." He supported the plan of R' Tzvi Hersh Kalischer for renewing widespread settlement, and stirred his talmidim with the love of Tzion and Yerushalayim — sending them to the Holy Land in the prime of their years to settle there permanently. Several of his talmidim made aliyah and founded Kollel Bnei Hungaria in Yerushalayim; some were among the founders of Petach Tikva.
Lashon HaKodesh. When the Reformers introduced prayer in German, the Chasam Sofer wrote sharply: "The Anshei Knesses HaGedolah established prayer in lashon hakodesh, and in their times the masses did not understand lashon hakodesh — as is explained in Ezra and Nechemiah — yet they did not establish prayer in another tongue. How shall we now change the practice of our holy ancestors? ... A commoner speaks to a king in the king's language, not in the commoner's language. And if men and children do not understand, let them take the trouble to learn lashon hakodesh — for they learn the languages of the gentiles. How shall they not bestow this honor upon Hashem our God!" He wrote even more sharply: "Those who oppose [prayer in lashon hakodesh] — just as they wish to make the memory of Yerushalayim forgotten, so they wish to make lashon hakodesh forgotten from Israel, lest they be redeemed in the merit of not having changed their language."
His Approach to Limud. The Chasam Sofer opposed the method of pilpul and favored learning pshat and bekius — which he held leads to truth. He ruled that one may not use pilpul to decide halacha, since the inclination to pilpul can divert the learner from the essential point. He especially valued the precision of the words of the Rishonim and preferred this to the learning of seforim of the Acharonim, writing to one of his talmidim: "Better the fingernail of the Rishonim than the spirit of the Acharonim — leave aside the seforim of the Acharonim and the deep pilpulim and inquiries." He held the Vilna Gaon's philological-critical method; he had many manuscripts and labored to clarify the correct girsa in Talmud and poskim, holding that the method of pilpul had grown out of corrupted girsaos. Though he supported the learning of aggadah and Kabbalah and used their sources in drashos and even in halacha, he opposed deciding halacha based on aggadah or Kabbalah: "All who mix divrei Kabbalah with halacha ... is liable for sowing kilayim."
His View on the Zohar. Although the Chasam Sofer revered the Zohar and cited Zohar and Tikkunei Zohar throughout his seforim, he also praised Rav Yaakov Emden's Mitpachas Sefarim — which argues that significant portions of the Zohar were not authored by Rashbi but rather added centuries later. He wrote of Mitpachas Sefarim: "You will find that the prophet [Yaavetz] spoke a great matter on this subject; those who see it will be astonished." According to one of his talmidim, the Chasam Sofer said publicly: "If a man had the ability to extract Rashbi's midrashim in their purity, clarifying them from what was joined to them by the gedolim of later generations — it would be only a small sefer of few pages." This was a strikingly bold position for a leading Hungarian Orthodox posek to hold publicly.
His Petirah & Kever. Niftar on כ"ה תשרי ת"ר (3 October 1839) in Pressburg at age 77. Buried in the old Jewish cemetery on the banks of the Danube, at the foot of the hill upon which the Bratislava Castle stands — beside the kevarim of R' Akiva Eiger I (grandfather of his father-in-law) and R' Meshulam Igra (predecessor as Rav of Pressburg). In 1943, due to the construction of a tunnel and new bridge along the Danube, many buildings in the old Jewish quarter were demolished — including the old Bratislava synagogue — and the construction passed near the old Jewish cemetery. Most of the kevarim were transferred to the new cemetery, but the most important portion — the kever of the Chasam Sofer together with 22 surrounding kevarim of other distinguished rabbanim of the city — was preserved in its original location. The road was raised above them, so the kevarim now sit in an underground compound. Between 2000-2002 the compound was fully restored and the matzeivos reconstructed in a modern design by the architect Martin Kvasnica — the Chatam Sofer Memorial. Today it serves as a place of pilgrimage for Jews from around the world (visits by appointment only; closed Shabbos). In 2012, on the 250th anniversary of his birth, the National Bank of Slovakia issued a commemorative €10 coin bearing his likeness.
His Seforim. He left approximately 100 manuscripts. Among those published:
His Talmidim. His talmidim founded yeshivos throughout Hungary and served in rabbanus in numerous kehillos. Dozens of yeshivos modeled on the Pressburg format were founded across Hungary under his influence. Among his greatest talmidim:
Descendants & Dynasty. The Chasam Sofer's family branched into many lines; dozens of his descendants served as rabbanim, roshei yeshivos, and community leaders throughout the Austro-Hungarian lands. The direct rabbinic succession in Pressburg passed: Chasam Sofer → Ksav Sofer (his son) → Shevet Sofer (grandson) → Da'as Sofer (great-grandson) — until the Shoah. His son R' Shimon Sofer — the Michtav Sofer served as Rav of Kraków. His son R' Shimon Sofer (the Hisorerus Teshuvah), grandson of the Chasam Sofer, served as Rav of Erlau (Eger), Hungary — murdered by the Nazis in Auschwitz in תש"ד at age 94. His son R' Yosefa Sofer — father-in-law of R' Yehuda Greenwald (Zichron Yehuda) — was murdered by his own carriage-driver. His daughter Hindel married R' Dovid Tzvi Ehrenfeld; her son R' Shmuel Ehrenfeld and her descendant R' Moshe Shmuel Glasner trace back to her line. His daughter Gitl married R' Eliyahu Kornitzer (niftar at 27) and then R' Shlomo Zalman Spitzer, Rav in Vienna — her son R' Akiva Kornitzer served as Rav of Kraków. His daughter Reichel married R' Tzvi Yehuda Friedman of Topolčany. The current Chug Chasam Sofer kehillos around the world preserve his mesorah.
Family Connection. R' Yaakov HaLevi Beilush — father of Rebbetzin Frimet and father-in-law of R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman — studied in Pressburg under the Ksav Sofer, the Chasam Sofer's son and successor. The Chasam Sofer's talmid R' Aharon Dovid Deutsch (Goren Dovid) was the Rav of Balassagyarmat — the rebbi of Reb Boruch Lieberman. The Kol Aryeh — also his talmid — was born in Mád, our family's founding city, and later served as its Rav.
Source: Hebrew Wikipedia · Eisenstein, Otzar Yisrael · Bratislava memorial documentation
His early years. R' Moshe Teitelbaum was born in ה'תקי"ט (1759) in Przemyśl (פשמישל), Poland, to his father R' Tzvi Hirsh of Zborów and his mother Chana. As a youth he learned first under his uncle R' Yosef of Kolbasov and afterward under R' Yehuda Aryeh HaLevi, the Drishas Aryeh of Strizov. His genius was recognized while he was still a boy, and when he first came to Lublin he was known as the "Baal Rosh Barzel" ("the iron-headed one"). By the age of seventeen he already had many talmidim and corresponded in halacha with the gedolei hador.
From misnaged to chossid. Though R' Moshe was originally numbered among the misnagdim, the Chozeh of Lublin directed that he be honored with the drasha in the beis hamedrash — a drasha that astonished all who heard it. During his time in Lublin he attached himself to the Chozeh and became his devoted chossid; it was his son-in-law, the Aryeh d'Bei Ilai, who first brought him to the Chozeh. He thus became the man who, more than any other, planted Chassidus in Hungarian soil.
Rav of Ujhel. After serving as Rav in Shinova (Sieniawa), in ה'תקס"ח (1808) he was called with great honor to the rabbanus of Ujhel (Sátoraljaújhely) in Hungary, where he founded a yeshiva and led for close to thirty-three years. From then on thousands of Yidden — and even gentiles — streamed to him for his counsel, his brachos, and his help. He was a preacher of overwhelming power: it was said among the chassidim that he carried a spark of Yirmiyahu HaNavi, for he mourned constantly over the churban of Yerushalayim and never took his mind off awaiting the geulah.
His family. His wife was Rebbetzin Chaya Sarah (d. כ"ט Adar ה'ת"ר). Among his children were R' Eliezer Nissan Teitelbaum of Sighet (Drohobycz), through whom the line continued to the Yeitev Lev and onward to the Satmar and Sighet dynasties; and his daughter Chana, wife of R' Aryeh Leibish Lipshitz, the Aryeh d'Bei Ilai.
His sefarim. Shu"t Heishiv Moshe; Yismach Moshe — four volumes on Tanach and the aggados of Chazal, the work by which he is universally known; Tefillah L'Moshe on Tehillim; and Maayan Tahor on Yoreh Deah.
His petirah. On כ"ח Tammuz ה'תר"א (17 July 1841) his neshama ascended in a storm to the heavens, and he was buried with great honor in Ujhel — where he rests to this day in a shared ohel with R' Sender of Komarna, beside whom he had asked to be laid.
A foundational figure of Hungarian-Galician chassidus — through whose marriage the Sighet-Satmar-Atzei Chaim-Yeitev Lev-Kedushas Yom Tov dynasties trace their chassidic root
Birth and Early Years. Born in 5527 (1767) in Yaroslav, Galicia to R' Chaim Asher Lipshitz — known among the gedolim as a tzaddik nistar. A scion of the Lipshitz family — whose ancestors included the Levush (R' Mordechai Yafeh), the Maharshal, the Megale Amukos, and a lineage tracing back to Rashi.
"Leibush Charif." Already at age nine he was famously fluent in both Talmud Bavli and Yerushalmi b'al peh, and was nicknamed "Leibush Charif" — Leibush the Sharp One. He corresponded on Torah matters with R' Alexander Sender Margolios (mechaber of the Teshuvas HaRa"m).
His Rebbeim. He learned under the Ketzos HaChoshen (R' Aryeh Leib HaKohen Heller) and the Pnei Yitzchak of Samvur (R' Yitzchak Charif). Through his connection to the Chozeh of Lublin, he became a leading chassidic talmid of all the great chassidic masters of the generation: the Maggid of Kozhnitz, R' Menachem Mendel of Rimanov, R' Naftali of Ropshitz, and the Yid HaKadosh of Peshischa. The same Chozeh who called our ancestor Reb Shimon of Shenya "der Sheiner Rav" was his rebbi as well.
His First Marriage and Divorce. He was first married to the daughter of a wealthy man of Premishla, who could not tolerate his absorption in avodas Hashem and his trips to learn at the Chozeh of Lublin; the marriage ended in divorce.
The Mashal of the Pearls — The Yismach Moshe's Choice. The Yismach Moshe of Ujhel sought him out as a chosson for his only daughter Chana. The Yismach Moshe's Rebbetzin Chaya Sarah hesitated: "Why would you choose a man cast off by another family?" The Yismach Moshe answered with a mashal: A fool in the forest found a pot of round objects and took them for peas. After boiling them in vain, he angrily threw the pot onto a rubbish heap. A wise merchant passed by, saw something gleaming, and discovered the discarded pot was full of pearls. "So fortunate are we, my dear wife," concluded the Yismach Moshe, "we have found a pearl that others cast off in their ignorance — not knowing how to correctly appraise the true value of the gem." When his promised dowry money ran short, the Yismach Moshe asked his Rebbetzin to sell her family heirloom jewelry — reminding her of Chazal's words that a person should sell all to acquire a talmid chacham for his daughter.
A Heavenly Revelation Under the Chuppah. At his second chuppah, R' Aryeh Leibush testified that it had been revealed to him from on high that Chana was in truth his zivug rishon — his true destined match all along — and not a second marriage at all. (The kever site preserves a variant: his deceased grandmother appeared to him at the chuppah and told him this directly.)
He Brought the Yismach Moshe to the Chozeh. A detail of enormous historical weight: R' Aryeh Leibush was the one who personally brought his father-in-law the Yismach Moshe to the Chozeh of Lublin — at which point the Yismach Moshe himself became a chossid of the Chozeh and a chassidic master in his own right. Every later chassidic line of the Sighet — Satmar — Atzei Chaim — Yeitev Lev — Kedushas Yom Tov dynasties traces its chassidic root back through this single moment.
His Rabbanus. Initial parnasah was through trade — but when a fire consumed his entire merchandise warehouse, he was forced to accept rabbinic office. He served as ABD Kreshov, then succeeded his father-in-law as ABD Shinova (Sieniawa) when the Yismach Moshe left for Ujhel in 5598 (1838 — earlier sources put the move closer to 5568/1808). From around 5585 (1825), after R' Boruch Frankel-Tomim left the position, he was appointed Rav of Vishnitz — meaning the Galician town of Nowy Wiśnicz in Poland (not to be confused with the Bukovinian Vyzhnytsia where the famous Hager Vizhnitz dynasty later took root — two entirely separate chassidic courts with similar-sounding names: Vishnitz [וישניצא] in Galicia versus Vizhnitz [ויזניץ] in Bukovina). In Vishnitz he began to conduct himself as admor, and is traditionally counted as אבי חסידות וישניצא הגליציאני — the father of Galician Vishnitz chassidus.
His Holiness. He was known as a gaon in both nigleh and nistar, with ruach hakodesh and his berachos effecting yeshuos. Tzaddikim of the generation revered him and called him "Admor of admorim." He had no gabba'im — and whoever grasped the handle of the door to his chamber felt fear and trembling. The sefer Shloshah Edrei Tzon records direct testimony from R' Berish of Oshpitzin: "And the Rav's chamber was up a flight of stairs, and Rebbi (Reb Berish) walked before us. When he came to the door — a great fear fell upon him, his appearance changed, and he could not open the door, for he was trembling. I reached out and opened half the door for him… Reb Berish entered… Then the Rav (the Aryeh d'Bei Ilai) returned hastily to his chamber. When Reb Berish saw that the Rav had returned to his chamber, he said to us: 'I could not stand before that holiness — the fire nearly burned me. Oy, Vishnitz does not know what they have among them.'" Many tzaddikim traveled to him: Reb Tzvi Hersh of Rimanov, R' Asher Yeshaya of Ropshitz, R' Mordechai Dovid of Dombrova, R' Chaim of Tzanz, R' Shalom of Kaminka, R' Eliezer Horowitz of Dzikov.
His Practices. On Sukkos he would say the Hoshanos in a separate room, lying spread-eagle with arms and legs extended. For Kiddush Levanah he donned Shabbos clothes and shtreimel. On Shabbos he ate very little, and after the Friday-night seudah he learned Bavli with Maharsha in iyun for hours. He was a kapdan and tikif b'da'as — a sone betza, especially where there was chillul Hashem; he sometimes did not return shalom to those he knew did not conduct themselves properly. The gevirim and parnasim of the community — and even tzaddikei hador — feared his kepeida, knowing his words were heard b'shamayim.
The Departure from Vishnitz. After clashes with the parnasim over the Chevra Kadisha elections, he was forced out of Vishnitz in the middle of Chol HaMoed Sukkos 5598 (1837). He requested to remain until after Yom Tov; the rosh hakahal shook his head no. R' Aryeh Leibush told him: "So shall you remain — shaking your head" — and indeed the rosh hakahal continued shaking his head until the end of his days. The other parnasim involved in the expulsion died unnatural deaths shortly afterward, and a fire shortly afterward consumed two-thirds of the dwellings in Vishnitz.
"It Purifies the Heart Like Gemara and Tosafos." The Shinover Rav — R' Yechezkel Shraga Halberstam, the Divrei Yechezkel (the Aryeh d'Bei Ilai's son-in-law via daughter Taba) — famously said he did not have the practice of learning the seforim of the Acharonim. He made two exceptions: the Chasam Sofer, and the Aryeh d'Bei Ilai — "because it purifies the heart and mind like the study of Gemara and Tosafos" (Otzar Yisroel). And on the Yamim Noraim, it was the Aryeh d'Bei Ilai who blew the shofar — while the Chozeh of Lublin himself called out the tekios as baal makri.
His Final Years and Petirah. He moved to Brigel (Brzesko, Poland) where he no longer involved himself in communal matters, telling those who came to him: "I wanted to fix the whole world and could not; I wanted to fix the medinah and that too I could not; I thought to at least fix my own city, but I see that this too has not succeeded — if so, I will return to fixing myself." He was niftar on י"ז טבת תר"ו (1846) and is buried in Brigel, in an ohel that also contains the kever of his rebbetzin Chana and his son Reb Meshulam Zalman Yonasan.
His Seforim. Shu"t Aryeh d'Bei Ilai · Chiddushei Aryeh d'Bei Ilai on Maseches Kiddushin, Yoma, Menachos, Kinim, and Niddah · Ari Shebachavura on Maseches Kesubos · Ateres Zekenim (klalei haShas, published by his son-in-law the Divrei Yechezkel) · Kuntres Aryeh d'Bei Ilai on Hilchos Pesach.
His Children.
· Reb Meshulam Zalman Yehonasan (תק"נ – א' אלול תרט"ו) — filled his place in the rabbanus of Brigel. Married Freida bat R' Avraham Chaim Horowitz (son of R' Naftali of Ropshitz).
· Reb Chaim Dov Beirish, Rav of Yanov (תקנ"ה – כ"ג תשרי תר"י) — chosson of R' Yosef Kezis; filled his father's place as Admor of (Galician) Vishnitz.
· Reb Aharon Zelig (c. תק"ס – כ' סיון תרל"ח) — filled his father's place on the rabbanus of Vishnitz and is buried there.
· Taba (–תקצ"ט) — wife of R' Yechezkel Shraga Halberstam of Shinova, the Divrei Yechezkel.
· Tzirl Tila — wife of R' Tzvi Hersh HaKohen Glanz — through whom his line connects to our family, by way of his granddaughter who married Reb Meshulam Lieberman (son of Reb Shimon of Shenya).
· A son-in-law in a separate match: R' Mordechai Zilberstein, Rav of Holshitz (also the father-in-law of the Divrei Yechezkel in his second marriage).
Kever. Brigel (Brzesko), Poland — Czarnowiejska 36, 32-800 Brzesko. The ohel also houses the kevarim of his rebbetzin Chana, his son Reb Meshulam Zalman Yehonasan, and (adjacent) the ohel of Admor R' Pinchas of Dembitz-Brigel. Shomer: +48 500 094 339.
Born 5550 (1790) in Nagyvázsony, Hungary, to R' Moshe Nachum Rosenboim, Rav of several Hungarian communities. Known throughout Hungary as "R' Amram Chassida" — Amram the Chasid — for his extraordinary chassidus and tzidkus.
His Rebbi & Early Years. He learned in Nikolsburg, Moravia (today Mikulov, Czech Republic), in the yeshiva of R' Mordechai Banet (the Maharam Banet) — Chief Rabbi of Moravia and one of the leading talmudists of the generation, whose yeshiva drew talmidim from across Europe. At the age of 13 he married the daughter of R' Yisrael Bril, Rav of Várpalota and a talmid of R' Yechezkel Landau (the Noda BiYehuda). He lived in his father-in-law's home until R' Yisrael's passing around 1808, and by 5571 (1811) was teaching Torah in Bonihad (Bonyhád), Hungary.
Rav of Irsa, Then Mád. In 5574 (1814), at the age of 24, he was called to serve as Rav of Irsa (which later merged with the neighboring village of Alberti to form Albertirsa) — a position he held for six years. In 5580 (1820) he was called to serve as Rav of Mád, where he established the Mád yeshiva that would continue for over a century after him. His grandson R' Amram Blum would later lead the same yeshiva.
Friendship with the Chasam Sofer. He was a close friend of R' Moshe Sofer (the Chasam Sofer), who held him in great esteem. In one teshuvah the Chasam Sofer addresses him as "my beloved Rav, the Gaon, the chassid and parush — a prince of God among the princes of his nation, whose crystal-clear eyes will examine the copy of his teshuvah." In another he writes: "And I was greatly astonished at the words of my dear friend the Gaon Moreinu HaRav Amram — I hold him to be expert in the inner chambers of Torah, only this one time he did not aim correctly."
Aliyah to Eretz Yisrael. In 5586 (1826) he made aliyah at the encouragement of R' Yaakov Shaltiel Ninio and settled in Tzfas. On his journey he stopped in Nikolsburg to take leave of his rebbi the Maharam Banet, and in Pressburg (Pozsony) to take leave of the Chasam Sofer — who had urged him specifically to settle in Yerushalayim. He served as Rav of Tzfas and head of Kollel HaChassidim there for four years.
The Yeshiva & His Derech as Mechanech. When he moved to Fehérgyarmat most of his Šalgótarján talmidim followed him, and the yeshiva swelled to nearly two hundred bochurim. The schedule was relentless: the bochurim were in the beis medrash from four in the morning until late at night, with no tolerance for bittul Torah — a bochur who could not adapt understood he would not continue into the next zman. By four o'clock R' Zev Wolf was already learning, and on bitter winter mornings he sometimes lit the stove himself before the bochurim arrived, greeting the first of them with "יהיה כדאי לקום מוקדם ללמוד תורה וליהנות מחום התנור" — "it is worthwhile to rise early to learn Torah and enjoy the warmth of the stove." At precisely 4:15 the doors were locked; lateness was not tolerated. He gave shiurei iyun on Sundays and Tuesdays, taught Orach Chaim and Yoreh Deah on Mondays and Wednesdays, and a shiur pashut toward evening — analyzing every word of Rashi (especially each כלומר) and the approaches of Tosafos — with weekly examinations on Thursdays. The bochurim were forbidden to shave their beards; when an Oberlander bochur asked what benefit there was in growing one, he answered, "כשתשוב לביתך יצטרך להתגלח" — "when you return home, you will need to shave." Though deeply shaped by the Munkácser Rebbe, the Minchas Elazar, his own derech was "ללא סופה וסערה אלא בחסד, רוח ועדינות" — "not with storm and סערה, but with kindness, gentleness, and refinement." In 5699 (1939) the Hungarian authorities sought to close the yeshiva, but it emerged that Fehérgyarmat held a special nineteenth-century license permitting a yeshiva, and it was allowed to continue until shortly before the Churban.
A Father to His Talmidim. For all his exacting discipline — he followed the principle of "יזרוק מרה בתלמידים," visiting the bochurim's lodgings at night to observe their conduct — his care for them was that of a loving father. One talmid described him: "חן של חסד היה משוך עליו — כאילו ראו בעין השכינה שורה עליו… דבורו בנחת ובחביבות" — "a grace of kindness was drawn upon him, as though one could see the Shechinah resting upon him… his speech was gentle and warm." The affection ran in both directions: in one teshuvah he opened to his talmid R' Bentzion Yakobovitch with extraordinary warmth — "שוכס״ם לכבוד אהובי ידידי ורב חביבי מתמיד נפשי ולבבי תלמידי המחכים את רבו… הבחור כהלכה חריף עצום ובקי, נפלא ומתהולל ברוב התשבחות מושלם במעלות ומדות טובות… מהו״ר בן ציון יעקובוביץ שליט״א" — "to my beloved dear friend, precious to my soul and heart, my talmid who sharpens his Rav… the proper bochur, mighty and proficient, wondrous and adorned with many praises, perfected in virtues and fine character… the honorable R' Bentzion Yakobovitch shlit"a."
Shalom over Machlokes. When disputes arose over communal funds designated for "Chochmei Yeshivos," R' Zev Wolf consistently sought to preserve communal harmony. In one teshuvah he ruled that separate fundraising arrangements should be created wherever possible to avoid conflict, but that a longstanding communal custom must never be altered aggressively: "שאם אפשר בלי מחלוקת לערוך שבת בפ״ע לטובת חוכמי ישיבות… בודאי מה טוב ומה נעים… ואם ח״ו אי אפשר משום מחלוקת מ״מ מהמנהג אשר נהגו מכבר ליקח חלק קטן מההכנסות בודאי איננו רשאי לשנות ליקח ממנו החצי" — "if it can be done without dispute, a separate Shabbos should be set for the benefit of the Chochmei Yeshivos… certainly that is good and pleasant… but if, Heaven forbid, it cannot be done without conflict, then one is certainly not permitted to alter the long-standing custom and take half of the funds beyond the small portion previously allocated."
His Petirah. He was niftar on 16 Cheshvan 5590 (November 1829), in his fortieth year, and was buried in the ancient Jewish cemetery of Tzfas. It is told that before his petirah he made a berachah with shem u'malchus: "Baruch hameir l'avadav me'or haganuz misheshes yemei bereishis" — Blessed is He who illuminates His servants with the hidden light from the six days of creation. The Chasam Sofer was maspid him: "He took his soul in his hand and traveled with all his household to the Holy Land, and his entire intention was to dwell in Yerushalayim, the Holy City — and he was delayed by circumstances in Tzfas, may it be built and established."
Yichus. According to family tradition he descended from R' Adam Baal Shem, the Maharal of Prague, R' Gershon Ashkenazi (Rav of Vienna), R' Menachem Mendel Krochmal, the Mahari Weil, the Maharam of Rothenburg, R' Yehuda HaChassid, and Rashi.
His Children. Among them: R' Moshe First, first Rav of Marosvásárhely and author of Mareh Moshe; Miriam Bloch, who married the Dayan Elimelech of Mád, and in her second marriage R' Yitzchak Yaakov Blum, Rav of Heidušamsoň — their son was R' Amram Blum; Avital, wife of R' Avraham Deutsch; the wife of R' Moshe Leib Heller, shochet u'bodek in Teveria; and the wife of R' Meir Singer.
R' Menashe Klein (the Ungvarer Rav, author of Mishneh Halachos) married a descendant, identified deeply with his memory, restored his kever, and per his own tzava'ah was buried adjacent to him.
Birth and Discovery. Born in Szerencs (Serentch), Hungary in ה'תקי"א (1751). The famous mesorah relates that he grew up an almanah's son, working as a goose-shepherd in the fields behind the Tokaj mountains. Reb Leib Sarah's — the hidden tzaddik and talmid of the Baal Shem Tov who traveled Eastern Europe sustaining the ל"ו צדיקים נסתרים — felt from afar that an extraordinary neshamah had landed in this remote Hungarian village. He came, heard the boy singing songs of cosmic longing, and recognized "a soul from the heichal of song and music." He left a coin with the mother and took the young Aizikel — first to R' Shmelke HaLevi Horowitz of Nikolsburg, Moravia (today Mikulov, Czech Republic), and afterwards to R' Elimelech of Lizhensk, Poland.
(A countertradition recorded in the זכרונות פון ר' דוב מבוליחאוו — cited by R' Yekusiel Yehuda Greenwald in his historical work טויזנט יאר אידיש לעבן אין אונגארן — reports that R' Dov of Bolichov personally visited the Kaliver's parents and found him to be a wealthy man's son who never left his father's home. The orphan-shepherd narrative remains the universally received mesorah recorded throughout the chassidic seforim.)
Marriage. Married his first cousin Rebbetzin Faiga (Feiga), daughter of his uncle R' Enzel Katz. In later years he took a second wife, Rebbetzin Zissel, of the Schwartz family (the tradition relates that she had originally written to him recommending a different shidduch for him — the Rebbe, reading her letter, declared "the writer of this letter pleases me more").
Rabbanus in Kaliv (1781–1821) — The First Chassidishe Rebbe of Hungary. In ה'תקמ"א (1781), at age 30, R' Aizikel became Rav of Kaliv (Nagykálló) and the entire Szabolcs district — a position he held for 40 unbroken years until his petirah. The Kaliver was the first chassidishe rebbe ever to establish a permanent court in the heart of Hungary; the second was the Yismach Moshe of Ujhel. The famous chanukas habayis at the Nanas shul illustrates their relationship: when both were invited and reached the entrance, neither would step in first — *"Kaliver Rav, you enter first!"* — *"Ohel'er Rav, no, you first!"* — until the Yismach Moshe declared *"Kaliver Rav, ממה נפשך — if you are greater, you must enter first; and if I am greater, I command you to enter first."*
★ The Chasam Sofer's Praise. In a teshuvah concerning a heter agunah, the Chasam Sofer addressed him as "צדיק ונשגב חסידא ופרישא" — "a tzaddik and exalted one, a chassid and a parush." Coming from the supreme halachic authority of Hungarian Jewry, this represented an extraordinary endorsement of the new chassidic mode in Hungary at a moment when the relationship between Pressburg-style talmud-Torah hegemony and emerging chassidic courts was still being defined.
His Nigunim — The "Gerus" of Melody. The Kaliver is most famous of all Hungarian rebbes for his songs. He taught that holy nigunim had originated in the Beis HaMikdash, fallen into the seventy nations during the Churban, and that he had been sent to redeem them. His most enduring compositions — sung by Jews until this day — are "Szól a Kakas Már" (the rooster is already crowing — calling out for the geulah) and "Erdő, Erdő" transformed into the famous "Vald, Vald — Galus, Galus". The story is celebrated: hearing a Hungarian shepherd singing "Vald, vald, vi groys bistu" ("Forest, forest, how great are you"), he gave him a coin to repeat it, then sang it back with the new sacred words: "Galus, galus, vi groys bistu · Shechina HaKedosha, vi vayt bistu · Ven men volt dem galus avekgenumen · volten mir zikh in einem tzuzamen gekumen." When he asked the shepherd to sing the original again, the shepherd could no longer remember it — the nigun had passed entirely into kedushah. The Kaliver explained: "This nigun was sung by Yisrael on the rivers of Bavel."
The Divrei Chaim and the Chozeh of Lublin. The Sanzer Rebbe — the Divrei Chaim — once stood at his kiddush table on Leil Shabbos and began singing only the words "Shabbos Kodesh, Shabbos Kodesh" to the Kaliver's nigun, in such dveikus that he continued for hours without pause, until the candles guttered out and dawn nearly arrived. When the Divrei Chaim was alerted to the passage of time, he said in wonder: "I thought only a single minute had passed." The Chozeh of Lublin declared of the Kaliver's Pesach Seder: "מרן הק' מלובלין אמר, כי הסדר מליל פסח של הרב מקאלוב הוא חד בדרא, מה שאין אור כזה בכל העולם" — "The Seder of the Rav of Kaliv is unique in the generation; such a light does not exist anywhere in the world" (cited in Eser Tzachtzachos).
★ The Spiritual Ancestor of Liska Chassidus — and of Our Family. The Kaliver Rebbe established the chassidic mold of Hungary into which Reb Hershele of Liska was born (1808) — when the Kaliver was 57; the Kaliver was niftar when Reb Hershele was only 13. Through Liska, the Kaliver's mold reached Rav Herzkele Ratzferter, then R' Yaakov Beilush, and finally Reb Ahron Mordechai Lieberman. The Kaliver Rebbe stands as the great spiritual root from which the entire chassidic legacy of the Lieberman family eventually sprouted — from Kaliv to Liska to Ratzfert to Felegyhaza, across five generations.
R' Yaakov Fish — The Closest Confidant. In Kaliv lived R' Yaakov Fish, a wealthy and tzaddik-like gvir who, during the long years that R' Aizikel was learning at the courts of his rebbeim, had quietly extended unlimited credit to the Rebbetzin so that the household want for nothing. When R' Aizikel returned to Kaliv in 5541 (1781) and the city begged him to accept the rabbanus, he refused — he wished to live from יגיעת כפיו. R' Yaakov Fish responded: "Then repay the entire debt I extended to your wife throughout these years." Faced with this dilemma, the Rebbe accepted the rabbanus בלית ברירה. R' Yaakov Fish signed the kabolas rabbanus as Rosh HaKahal; the Kaliver bentched him with arichus yamim, and he lived to over one hundred years old — the tradition relates that he was old enough to have personally met the Baal Shem Tov.
The Miracle of the Fire — "ותשקע האש". When the Kaliver was once a Shabbos guest at his patron R' Avli of Tirnoy, fire broke out in the grain warehouse and the workers ran to alert R' Avli that his entire harvest was burning. R' Avli rose to run to save it; the Rebbe gripped his hand and said: "Wait one minute. Let me tell you a story." With R' Avli's heart pounding in אדם בהול על ממונו terror, the Rebbe slowly recounted: at the court of the Maggid of Mezritch, the heater of the beis midrash was the young Reb Zusha of Anipoli. One winter erev Shabbos, R' Zusha had stoked the oven so generously that the dry wood of the wall caught fire. The crowd shouted "Zusha, the fire will burn down the whole shul!" — but R' Zusha said in tmimus: "Why do we need water? It says in the Torah ותשקע האש — 'and the fire was quenched' (Bamidbar 11:2). And the Torah is נצחית — eternal." As R' Zusha spoke the words, the fire extinguished itself. The Maggid noted: of R' Zusha was fulfilled the pasuk "יערף כמטר לקחי" — his speech is like rain that quenches fire. The Kaliver finished: "R' Avli — R' Zusha was right. The Torah says ותשקע האש — and the fire extinguished itself." Within minutes the servants rushed in with the besurah tovah: the fire had miraculously gone out and the entire harvest was saved.
Kefitzas HaDerech to the Arizal's Mikveh in Tzfas. The Kaliver's gabbai discovered, over time, that the Rebbe's weekly walk to the mikveh on erev Shabbos was actually kefitzas haderech to Eretz Yisrael — that they were dipping in the very mikveh of the Arizal in Tzfas. One week, curious, the gabbai lingered behind to look around — and found himself stuck in Tzfas for a full week until the Rebbe's next weekly visit. The Bais Avraham of Slonim later recalled that the elders of Tzfas would still mention "the Hungarian" who would appear unexpectedly each erev Shabbos in the city and need to borrow tallis and tefillin.
Children and Lineage. Among his sons: R' Moshe Chaim — who continued as Rebbe in Rozdol, Galicia, chasan of the Atzei Chaim of Zidichov; R' Yaakov; R' Leibush, Dayan in Ratzfert (Újfehértó); R' Meir; R' Yechezkel; and R' Asher. His daughter Rivka is buried in Tshenger (Csenger) — the very kehillah associated with R' Yitzchak Rachlitz (whose shver was Rav there) and his successor R' Asher Anshil Yungreis. His great-grandson R' Moshe Taub — the "Es Ratzon" of Kaliv (1870–1936) revived the Kaliver dynasty in ה'תרנ"ח (1898), establishing his court in the very years that R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman was building his own rabbanus in Felegyhaza.
His Petirah. Niftar ז' אדר ב' ה'תקפ"א (March 11, 1821) at age 70. His matzeivah in Nagykálló bears, by his own express tzava'ah, only the singular epitaph: "והיה ערליכער יוד" — "and he was an ehrliche yid." The tradition records that the Rebbe had received this testimony, on a walk in the forest with R' Yaakov Fish, from Eliyahu HaNavi himself — disguised as an elderly Hungarian peasant who paused, struck the Rebbe on the shoulder, said "ערליכער איד, ערליכער איד," and walked on. The Rebbe afterwards told R' Yaakov Fish who he had been. His yahrzeit is observed annually at his kever in Nagykálló, where thousands gather each year. The Kaliver Rebbe stands at the threshold of Hungarian chassidus — the founding figure of the world into which the Lieberman family was born, and the great spiritual ancestor of its chassidic mesorah through the line of Liska.
His descendants spread through the rabbanus of Marmaros and built the wide Kahana family — including the later dynasty of Spinka-Kahana.
">Birth & Lineage. Born on ט"ז כסלו ה'תק"ד / 1743 in Kalish (Kalisz), Galicia, to R' Yosef HaKohen — one of three kohen-rabbonim of the town — and his wife Nisl. The family traced its descent through Trisk to the Tosfos Yom Tov. His younger brother, born two years after him, was R' Aryeh Leib HaKohen Heller — the future Ketzos HaChoshen. There is a striking tradition recorded in the name of the Chofetz Chaim: their father R' Yosef and another impoverished talmid chacham in Kalish each davened Tehillim through their tears one Shabbos afternoon — one over a daughter he could not marry off, the other over a son for whom he could not afford a shidduch. When they met that night and proposed pairing the two children, the match yielded four gedolei olam, of whom R' Yehuda was the eldest.
His Early Years & the Pri Megadim. After his marriage he supported himself biyegia kapav — running a small beis-mezigah (whiskey tavern) in a village near Kalish, rather than take from the crown of Torah. He later moved to Lvov (Lemberg) and worked as a melamed of young children. It was in Lvov that he befriended R' Yosef Te'omim — the future Pri Megadim, with whom he remained in lifelong correspondence on matters of halacha. From there he was called to serve as dayan u'moreh tzedek in Munkács.
Kuntres HaSefeikos & the Printing of the Ketzos. His best-known sefer, Kuntres HaSefeikos, is an analytic study of the laws of safek mamon — built around the seventeenth-century Tekafo Kohen of the Shach, and structured in nine klalim on tefisah, ein holkhin b'mamon achar ha'rov, kim li, and the rest of the foundations of monetary doubt. In תקמ"ח (1788) he traveled to Lvov at his brother's request to oversee the printing of the Ketzos HaChoshen; he stayed three full years to see the printing through, and appended his own Kuntres HaSefeikos at the back. The Ketzos thanks him for it in his hakdamah: "היטיב לעשות עמי אחי השלם, טובייני דחכימי, מוהר"ר יהודה הכהן ש"ן, שתקע אהלו בק"ק לבוב כל ימי משך הדפוס". When the two brothers brought their seforim for a haskama to R' Tzvi Hirsh Rozanis of Lvov (grandson of the Pnei Yehoshua), the elder rav rebuked them for what he took to be pilpulim meyutarim u'neyar mevuzbaz — superfluous pilpulim and wasted paper — and sent them out of his house. Through the night, however, he read what they had left him; in the morning he called them back, apologized, and gave them his haskama — and even ensured they obtained the haskamos of the other gedolei Lvov. The Kuntres HaSefeikos has since been printed at the back of every edition of the Ketzos HaChoshen, and is studied in yeshivos to this day.
Selish, Sighet — and the Refusal of Grosswardein. In תקנ"ו (1796) he was appointed Rav of Selish (Nagyszőlős) and ABD of the surrounding district. With the spread of his name through the printed Kuntres HaSefeikos, in תקס"ב (1802) he was elected rav of Sighet (Máramarossziget) in Marmaros — over the opposing candidacy of the rabbinically distinguished Stern family of the town. The two factions crowned their respective rabbonim simultaneously in different towns; rather than allow the dispute to fester, the two rabbonim publicly declared peace, and worked alongside one another for many years — R' Yehuda serving as Av Beis Din of the city and R' Menachem Mendel Stern (the Derech Emunah) as Rosh Beis Din and regional rav. In תקס"ה (1805), having become recognized as one of the gedolei hador, he was offered the prestigious rabbanus of Grosswardein — and turned it down, preferring to remain with his Sighet kehillah. He served Sighet for seventeen years, until his petirah. When asked once why he had moved from quiet Selish to the burden of Sighet, he is said to have answered that "mi she'oleh ligedulah, mochalin lo avonosav" — and that his own avonos were too many for a small kehillah.
Terumas HaKri & His Children. His second great work, Terumas HaKri on Shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpat, was extracted from his manuscripts and published posthumously in Pressburg, תרי"ח (1858) by his descendants — with chiddushim and notes added by his grandson-in-law R' Yehuda Modern, talmid muvhak of the Chasam Sofer. He left seven sons and one daughter, from whom branched the wide Kahana family of Marmaros — many of them prominent rabbonim, dayanim, and parnesim across Transylvania. Of his sons, R' Yosef Mordechai served as dayan and moreh tzedek in Sighet; R' Yechiel as ABD Salka (Hungary); R' Nachman as dayan in Sighet; R' Shimon Tzvi in Dolina; and his daughter Nisl married R' Shmuel Zanvil Kahana, whose grandson-in-law was R' Yehuda Modern of Sighet. From later generations of the family came the rebbes of the Spinka-Kahana dynasty, R' Nachman Kahana (the Orchos Chaim), and many others.
His Petirah. Niftar in Sighet on כ"ז ניסן ה'תקע"ט (22 April 1819), at the age of seventy-five, after seventeen years on the Sighet rabbanus. He was succeeded by his colleague R' Menachem Mendel Stern. He is buried in the famed Ohel HaKohanim in the Sighet beis hachaim, where his matzeivah — bearing only the inscription he himself had requested, naming his sefer and refusing all encomia — still stands. Following his testament that no shevachim be carved on his stone, the matzeivah reads simply: "פ"נ הרב מוהר"ר יהודה כהנא בעל המחבר ס' קונטריס הספקות, בהמנוח מוהר"ר יוסף הכהן זללה"ה... ביום ה' כ"ז ניסן נאסף לעמיו רב יהודה הכהן הגדול לפ"ק. תנצב"ה."
R' Binyomin Zev Wolf HaLevi Boskovitz (ת"ק / 1740 – י' סיון תקע"ח / 1818) was one of the great rabbonim of Hungary and Moravia, named for his birthplace of Boskovice. He was the son and talmid of the gaon R' Shmuel HaLevi Kelin of Boskovice — the Machatzis HaShekel, who himself descended from the Tzemach Tzedek of Nikolsburg. Through his mother, the Rebbetzin Alteka, he descended from a further chain of gedolim — R' Aryeh Yehuda Leib of Boskovice (the Pri Ginosar) and R' Menachem Mendel of Roudnice (the Tzemach Tzedakah), back to R' Dovid of Trebitsch (the Tzemach LeDovid).
Already in his youth his greatness was recognized; his father would say that had he himself learned with his son Wolf's diligence, he too would have reached even greater heights. He grew into a gaon olam with mastery of Shas Bavli and Yerushalmi, Tosefta, and the rishonim, learning with such hasmadah that he testified he never wasted even a quarter-hour in idleness. He was also deeply versed in Kabbalah and regarded as a great baal mofes, though he concealed these matters and did not make use of them.
His father despised positions of rabbanus and did not wish his son to accept one; the Rebbetzin Esther accordingly supported the household through commerce so her husband could devote himself entirely to Torah. Only after the loss of his wealth did his father consent, recognizing that Heaven willed it so. He became ABD of Aszód (תקמ"ב / 1782), then of Prossnitz (Prostějov) (תקמ"ו / 1786) — where he formed a close friendship with R' Moshe Sofer, the Chasam Sofer, who arrived in the same town that very year. Government decrees brought him next to Óbuda and then Pest, where he served as its first rav; afterward Balassagyarmat (תקנ"ח / 1798), Kolín in Bohemia (his father's birthplace), and finally Bonyhád, where he became ABD in תקע"ו / 1816.
His gaonus and sharpness were renowned among the gedolei hador — the Noda BiYehuda (with whom he corresponded in halacha), R' Bezalel Ranschburg, R' Mordechai Banet, the Chasam Sofer, and R' Akiva Eiger all wrote of him with great esteem. During his years in Bonyhád many talmidim gathered to him, and gedolei hador emerged from his yeshiva.
His monumental work Seder Mishna — a wide-ranging commentary on the Rambam's Yad HaChazakah — was published from תק"ף / 1820 onward by his son R' Yosef, with the haskama of the Chasam Sofer; his glosses on Shas, Agudas Eizov, were printed in the Vienna edition of the Talmud (תק"ץ–תקצ"ג). He also authored Maamar Esther (drashos delivered in memory of his Rebbetzin Esther, Buda תקצ"ב), Shoshan Edus on Maseches Eduyos, LeBinyamin Amar, and more. He was niftar on 10 Sivan תקע"ח / 1818 and laid to rest in Bonyhád; his father the Machatzis HaShekel is buried in Boskovice.
A thread to our family. His father the Machatzis HaShekel was the rebbi of the Pri Tzaddik of Csaba — a direct Lieberman ancestor — so the Seder Mishna was the son of our ancestor's rebbi. And in his years at Balassagyarmat (c. 1798) he led the very kehillah where Reb Boruch Lieberman would later serve as Dayan — a resonance of place across the generations.
Hagaon Hakadosh R' Yitzchak ben R' Zev Rachlitz served as Rav and Av Beis Din in Hungary for approximately forty years. He held two rabbanuses in succession: first Nyír-Tosh in Szabolcs county, and then in his later years he was elevated to the kisei haRabbanus of Bergsas (Beregszász) in Bereg county, where he served as Av Beis Din for the city and the entire district until his petirah on ב' סיון תרי"ט (2 Sivan 5619 / 1859). His menuchah is in Bergsas.
His Semicha from the Chasam Sofer. R' Yitzchak traveled to Pressburg to receive semicha from the Chasam Sofer, who granted him semicha and hormana. The Chasam Sofer used the occasion to speak with pride about another of his talmidim — R' Yoel Ungar of Paks (mechaber of the Riv"a teshuvos) — telling R' Yitzchak in Yiddish: "Mein Reb Yoel lernt vohl" ("My Reb Yoel learns well") — and instructing him to engage R' Yoel in talmud Torah.
Correspondence with the Maharam Asch. R' Yitzchak corresponded extensively with R' Meir Eisenstadter — the Maharam Asch, ABD Ungvár. In one teshuvah dated י"ג שבט תר"א (13 Shevat 5601 / 1841), the Maharam Asch addressed him in these words: "Shalom and all good to the wondrous and exalted rav, the marvelous and outstanding talmid chacham in sharpness and breadth of learning, our master and teacher Reb Yitzchak nero ya'ir, ABD of Tosh — and now ABD of Beregszász..." (Shu"t Imrei Aish, Yoreh De'ah, siman 52). The exchange is preserved in the Maharam Asch's printed responsa.
His Character. His grandson, R' Yitzchak Mordechai Schwartz of Bergsas, wrote of him in the kuntres Anaf Etz Avos (printed at the beginning of Imrei Aish, volume II, Munkatch 5661 / 1901): "The greatness of his tzidkus and his hasmadah in Torah cannot be measured. He left behind several manuscript works (which remain unpublished). He was exceedingly humble, and a great ba'al tzedakah — a fixed portion of whatever was given to him each week he distributed to the poor of the city," as eyewitnessed by R' Tzvi Aryeh — buried later in Tzefas — who was the one who distributed the funds on his behalf before himself moving on from Bergsas.
His Tzava'ah Regarding the Matzeivah. Before his petirah, he commanded that no titles of praise of any kind be written on his matzeivah. To this day his matzeivah in Bergsas — visible by anyone who visits — bears only the bare inscription: "Po Nikbar HaRav Av Beis Din DePoh, Moreinu HaRav Yitzchak ז"ל, niftar 2 Sivan 5619." He further commanded that he be judged with the arba misos beis din — the four court-imposed death penalties of biblical law — in order to atone for any sin.
His Levaya — A Gathering of Gedolim. The maspidim who came to be maspid him constituted a who's who of the rabbinic generation. Among those who came to Bergsas: R' Fishel Horowitz (Shalsheles HaYochsin), ABD Munkatch — a close, beloved friend of R' Yitzchak's who would come and stay with him for weeks at a time; R' Menachem Ash, ABD Ungvar — who wept "like a flowing river"; R' Shmelka, ABD Selish; and R' Asher Anshil Yungreis, ABD Tshenger (Csenger). (R' Yitzchak was the son-in-law of the earlier Rav of Tshenger, R' Moshe Spitz — making R' Asher Anshil his successor at his shver's kehillah.)
His Family. R' Yitzchak was the son-in-law of R' Moshe Spitz, ABD Tshenger (Csenger) — one of the gaonim and tzaddikim of the generation. His grandson R' Yitzchak Mordechai Schwartz served in the rabbanus of Bergsas after him, and authored the kuntres Anaf Etz Avos that preserves the family's mesorah.
A foundational figure of nineteenth-century Hungarian Orthodoxy — predecessor of Reb Boruch Lieberman on the Balassagyarmat rabbanus by a generation, rebbe of our foundational chassidishe rebbi the Ach Pri Tevuah of Liska, and a haskama-giver to our direct ancestor the Pri Tzaddik of Csaba
Birth and Lineage. Born in ה'תק"ם (1780) in Schossberg (Sasvár · today Šaštín-Stráže, Slovakia), to his father R' Yehuda Leib Eisenstadter, who served as shaliach tzibbur in the kehillah. In his youth he moved to Eisenstadt (Kismarton · today Eisenstadt, Austria — Burgenland), from which he took his family name and his lifelong appellation.
His Rebbeim. He first learned from his father, then from R' Refoel of Glogov, dayan in Eisenstadt. He was then among the first and greatest talmidim of the Chasam Sofer in his yeshivos in Mattersdorf and afterwards in Pressburg (Pozsony · today Bratislava, Slovakia) — counted as one of the gedolei talmidav.
His Marriage. In תקס"ב (1802) he married Chana, daughter of R' Dovid Deutsch, mechaber of Ohel Dovid and ABD of Vágújhely (today Nové Mesto nad Váhom, Slovakia), Sárdahel / Dunaszerdahely, Frauenkirchen, and Neustadt. After his wedding he lived in Dunaszerdahely and assisted his shver in running the local yeshiva.
His First Rabbanus — Baja (1807). Around תקס"ז (1807) he was called to the rabbanus of Baja, Hungary, where he directed a large yeshiva. His closest friend, R' Götz Schwerin Kohn (later Chief Rabbi of Bács County), was at one point left without parnasah after his father-in-law was ruined; the Maharam Asch voluntarily resigned the Baja rabbanus and gave it to his friend — a striking act of self-sacrifice for another talmid chacham.
His Second Rabbanus — Balassagyarmat (1815-1835) · The Family Connection. On the personal recommendation of his rebbe the Chasam Sofer, the Maharam Asch was appointed ABD of Balassagyarmat in תקע"ה (1815), where he served for twenty years (1815-1835) and established a yeshiva of approximately sixty talmidim. This is the very rabbinic seat — and the very kehillah — that, a generation later, would be held by R' Ahron Dovid Deutsch, the Goren Dovid — under whom Reb Boruch Lieberman served as Raavad and to whom the Divrei Chaim of Tzanz wrote his famous responsum (Yoreh De'ah II:47). The Maharam Asch laid the foundations of the Balassagyarmat rabbanus on which our family later served.
His Third and Final Rabbanus — Ungvár (1835-1852). At the end of תקצ"ה (1835) he was elevated to the rabbanus of Ungvár (Uzhhorod, today in Zakarpattia Oblast, Ukraine), where he established a great yeshiva of hundreds of talmidim drawn from across Hungary, Slovakia, and Galicia. He served there until his petirah on כ"ד טבת ה'תרי"ב (January 16, 1852).
"The Leading Rabbi of Hungary." After the petirah of his rebbe the Chasam Sofer in 1839, the Maharam Asch began to receive hundreds of she'eilos in halacha from across Europe, and was thereafter recognized as the leading rabbi of all Hungarian Orthodox Jewry. The greatest gedolim of Hungary and Galicia addressed their halachic questions to him — among them R' Shlomo Kluger of Brod, the Divrei Chaim of Tzanz, and R' Shimon Sofer of Krakow.
R' Shlomo Ganzfried Served Under Him. R' Shlomo Ganzfried — the mechaber of the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch — served as dayan on the Maharam Asch's beis din in Ungvár during these years. The two seforim that emerged from Ungvár's printing presses in 1864 — the Imrei Eish teshuvos and the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch — represent the twin pillars of mid-nineteenth-century Hungarian halachic literature, born of the same beis din.
His Haskama to the Pri Tzaddik of Csaba — Our Direct Ancestor. The Maharam Asch gave a haskama to the sefer Pri Tzaddik of Reb Meir Avraham Klein, the Pri Tzaddik of Tsheba (Békéscsaba) — our family's direct ancestor, father of Rebbetzin Malka who married Reb Shimon of Shenya. To carry the Maharam Asch's haskama was to carry the imprimatur of the leading posek of Hungarian Jewry.
The R' Yoav Rosenbaum Marriage Tradition. Two traditions exist concerning his marriage ties to R' Yoav Rosenbaum, the Mattersdorfer Rav: some say that after R' Yoav's petirah in 1810, the Maharam Asch married R' Yoav's almanah; others say the Maharam Asch married R' Yoav's daughter after her own husband's petirah. Either way, the Maharam Asch became closely bound by marriage to the Rosenbaum-Mattersdorf rabbinic house.
His Talmidim — A Roll of the Hungarian Rabbinic Galaxy. The Maharam Asch was rebbe-of-rebbeim for a generation of Hungarian and chassidic gedolim. Among his most famous talmidim:
· R' Tzvi Hersh Friedman — Reb Hershele Liska, the Ach Pri Tevuah — our family's foundational chassidishe rebbi
· R' Yosef Meir Weiss — the first Spinka Rebbe (whose grandson the Chakal Yitzchak is on this site)
· R' Meshulam Feish Lowy — the Tosh "Saraf", the first Tosher Rebbe
· R' Chaim Sofer, ABD Pest — mechaber Machaneh Chaim
· R' Asher Anshel Yungreis, ABD Tshenger (Csenger) — Menuchas Asher
· R' Yoel Tzvi Roth, ABD Chust — Beis HaYotzer
· R' Shlomo Yehuda Tabak, Raavad Sighet — Erech Shai
· R' Shmuel Frankel, the Dorager Rebbe
· R' Yehoshua Heshel Fried, the Kapisher Rebbe
His Children.
· R' Menachem Eish — first ABD Chust, then succeeded his father as ABD Ungvár
· R' Meir — ABD Volove (1885-1890)
· R' Yehuda — ABD Sobrance
· R' Chaim
· Daughter Sara — married R' Tzvi Hersh Weiss, ABD Sárdna-Zborov, Magyar-Lapos (Hungary), and Dąbrowa (Galicia)
· Daughter Sheva — married R' Shimon Kehlmann of Lemberg
· Daughter Esther — married R' Mordechai Leib Bennet
· Daughter Yehudis
The 1869 Imperial Delegation — The Two Balassagyarmat Rabbanim Side by Side. A striking historical moment: on 24 April 1869, an Orthodox rabbinic delegation appeared before Emperor Franz Joseph I at the Royal Palace of Buda. Standing together in that delegation were: the Ksav Sofer of Pressburg; R' Menachem Eish (the Maharam Asch's son) of Ungvár; R' Menachem Katz of Deutschkreutz; and R' Ahron Dovid Deutsch, the Goren Dovid of Balassagyarmat — the very Rav under whom our Reb Boruch Lieberman later served. The Eisenstadter and Lieberman worlds — both rooted in the same Balassagyarmat rabbanus across the generations — meet in this single historic audience.
His Seforim.
· Shu"t Imrei Eish — two volumes, published by his son in Ungvár 1864. This was the first Hebrew sefer ever printed in Ungvár, alongside the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch of R' Shlomo Ganzfried that emerged from the same printing press the same year. The title is a Hebrew pun: "Eish" ("fire") is also the acronym of Eisenstadt.
· Imrei Binah — chiddushim on Shas (Sedarim Moed and Nashim), 1866
· Imrei Yosher — drashos, Ungvár 1864
· Imrei Eish on the Torah and Haggadah shel Pesach
· The well-known Chanukah zemer "באו זרים למקדשי" is excerpted from a longer Chanukah zemer he composed
Petirah and Successor. Niftar on כ"ד טבת ה'תרי"ב (January 16, 1852) in Ungvár, where he is buried. His son R' Menachem Eish succeeded him as ABD Ungvár and continued the yeshiva.
A rebbe-of-rebbeim of nineteenth-century Hungarian Torah — son of the Lackenbach gaon, son-in-law into the Eiger house, talmid (in his youth) of the Chasam Sofer, and posek of Makova for 37 years
Birth and Lineage. Born ה'תקנ"א (1791) in Ansbach, Germany to his father R' Shalom Charif (Ullmann), the Divrei R"Sh, ABD Ansbach, later of Stomfa and finally of Lackenbach (Burgenland, Austria). His father was a talmid of the Hafla'ah in Frankfurt and of R' Nosson Adler. His mother was Rechel, daughter of R' Refoel Hagental, ABD Ettingen and Rav of Switzerland.
His Brother. His brother R' Avraham Ullmann succeeded their father on the rabbanus of Lackenbach. The Chasam Sofer praised R' Avraham as a gaon "sheHora'aso b'kedushah" — whose halachic rulings were rooted in kedushah (Shu"t Chasam Sofer V, Hashmatos siman 197).
His Marriage Into the Eiger House. R' Shlomo Zalman married (in his first marriage) the daughter of R' Bunim Eiger, ABD Mattersdorf (today Mattersburg, Austria) — the brother of R' Akiva Eiger. Through this shidduch he was bound into one of the towering Ashkenazic rabbinic houses of the era. After his first rebbetzin's petirah he married (zivug sheni) Sarah Tsharna, daughter of R' Yitzchok Aizik Königsberger of Tzeilim — a talmid of the Chasam Sofer, descended from the Panim Meiros (R' Meir Eisenstadt of Eisenstadt).
His Rabbanus Chain. R' Shlomo Zalman opened a yeshiva in Ansbach with his father's haskama, which he held until ה'תקפ"ג (1823). At that point — through the personal intervention of the Chasam Sofer, who championed him in correspondence — he was appointed Rav of Rendek (Csávás · Burgenland), where he served for approximately two to three years. In ה'תקפ"ו (1826) he became ABD of Makava (Makó, Hungary), where he served for thirty-seven years until his petirah.
"Unzer Yunger Gaon" — The Chasam Sofer's Affection. The Chasam Sofer referred to him as "unzer yunger gaon" — our young gaon — and the Chasam Sofer's personal involvement was the makeh b'patish that secured his appointment in Rendek (as recorded in Ishim B'Teshuvos Chasam Sofer). His name appears three times in the Chasam Sofer's printed teshuvos.
"Hungary Does Not Know What They Possess" — The Divrei Chaim's Praise. The Divrei Chaim of Tzanz — who was famously known to almost never look into the seforim of contemporary mechabrim — when the first volume of the Yerios Shlomo appeared (chiddushim on Yoreh De'ah), it was seen lying on the Divrei Chaim's table. When asked about it, the Divrei Chaim said: "This is something else entirely" — and praised the mechaber profusely. He further declared: "Hungary does not know what they possess" (Shem HaGedolim MeEretz Hagar, ערך ש' אות מ"ה). The Divrei Chaim also said that since the Noda B'Yehuda, no sefer of such taste and depth (טעם ודעת) had appeared as the Yerios Shlomo.
The Bikszader Rebbe — One Generation Removed. R' Eliezer Fisch הי"ד, the Bikszader Rebbe — already on this site, a holy kadosh murdered in Auschwitz — received his semicha from his rebbe R' Mordechai Yehuda Loew, ABD Aderdam, who was himself a talmid of both the Ksav Sofer in Pressburg and of R' Shlomo Zalman Ullmann, the Yerios Shlomo of Makava. The chain of Torah running through the Bikszader thus reaches back, one rebbe removed, to the Yerios Shlomo's Makava beis medrash.
The Maharyi Assad's Son — A Direct Talmid. R' Ahron Shmuel Assad, ABD Szerdahely (Dunaszerdahely) — son of the Maharyi Assad, already on this site — received semicha from three giants: R' Shlomo Kluger, R' Shlomo Zalman Ullmann (the Yerios Shlomo), and R' Avraham Shag-Tzwibner. The Yerios Shlomo's semicha thus stood at the head of the rabbanus of one of the major Hungarian halachic houses of the next generation.
His Other Great Talmidim. Among the gedolei hador who learned under him in Makava:
· R' Mordechai Eliezer Weber, ABD Ada
· R' Amram Blum
· R' Yisroel Iser Toiber
(plus those named above)
His War Against the Maskilim. In the years around the printing of his first sefer (1854), the Maskilim attempted to defile the shuls of Makava with their reformist innovations. The Yerios Shlomo led the kehillah's resistance and pushed them back. He was reckoned bsof yamav among the very greatest gedolim of Hungary, and according to his obituary "had a great share in establishing the kehillah division (טיילונג)" — laying the foundations for the formal Orthodox-Neolog split that would be ratified at the 1868-69 Congress, five years after his petirah.
His Seforim.
· Yerios Shlomo vol. 1 on Yoreh De'ah siman סא (Makava ה'תרי"ד / 1854) — printed in his own lifetime and sent to many gedolei hador
· Yerios Shlomo on sugyos haShas (Munkacs ה'תרע"ג / 1913, posthumous)
· Shu"t Yerios Shlomo (Vilna ה'תרס"ה / 1905, posthumous)
· Yerios Shlomo drush (New York ה'תש"מ / 1980)
· Yerios Shlomo drush l'chinuch beis haknesses (Munkacs ה'תר"ע / 1910)
· A revised edition of additional writings appeared in ה'תשס"ט (2009), edited by his descendant Chaim Aryeh Spitz
Petirah and Burial. Niftar zaken v'sva yamim on erev Shabbos Kodesh, י"א טבת תרכ"ג (January 2, 1863). The levaya took place only on the following Sunday, י"ג טבת — and as his matzeivah records: "It was on that day a day of darkness and gloom, a day of cloud and thick darkness; the angels triumphed over the mighty…" His matzeivah is in the old beis hachaim of Makava, and was later restored.
His Descendants. His descendants founded distinguished rabbinic houses across Hungary, Transylvania, Galicia, Eretz Yisroel, and America — including the Ullmann rabbinic dynasty of Bistritz (his grandson R' Shlomo Zalman, nasi of the Orthodox Bureau of Transylvania), Antwerp (his great-grandson R' Noach Tzvi, first ABD of Mahzikei Hadas), and the Eidah Hachareidis of Yerushalayim (his descendant Hagaon R' Avraham Yitzchok Ullmann shlita, member of the Badatz). Through his daughters' marriages, his line also reaches R' Pinchos Zelig Schwartz of Mád (printer of his seforim) and other Hungarian-rabbinic dynasties.
Born 5554 (1794) in the village of Aszód, north of Budapest. One of the supreme architects of Hungarian Orthodoxy — positioned at its ideological center, between the neo-Orthodoxy of R' Azriel Hildesheimer and the ultra-Orthodox stringency of R' Hillel Lichtenstein — he emerged as the mainstream leader of Hungarian Jewry alongside the Ksav Sofer, fighting modernism and Reform for decades.
His Rebbeim & Early Career. He studied in the yeshiva of R' Mordechai Banet (the Maharam Banet) in Nikolsburg, Moravia — one of the leading talmudists of the generation, in whose yeshiva thousands of students learned over 40 years, and whose talmidim included R' Simcha Bunim of Peshischa and R' Yirmiyahu Loew (also a rebbe of R' Yaakov Beilush). His sharp acumen made an extraordinary impression on the Maharam Banet — according to tradition he was given semichah at the age of 22. Before Szerdahely he served as Rav of Rete (near Pressburg (Pozsony)) and Szenitz (near Nitra). In 5613 (1853) he was chosen as Rav of Szerdahely (Dunajská Streda) — a position he held until his passing. The Chasam Sofer, who conversed with him extensively in writing on halacha and Torah, called him "a great talmid chacham, Ish Tzaddik Tamim" and actively worked to secure his appointment to the Szerdahely rabbinate.
His Stature. After the passing of the Chasam Sofer in 5600 (1839), Rav Yehuda Assad was widely regarded as the undisputed head of Hungarian Jewry — a position he held for over 25 years. His yeshiva in Szerdahely drew 150 students from across Hungary and beyond. He authored the monumental responsa Yehuda Ya'aleh (multiple volumes covering all four sections of Shulchan Aruch), Chiddushei Maharyi Assad, and a commentary on Pirkei Avos. He was known as a proficient Kabbalist, a man of extraordinary humility, and a fierce opponent of Reform. The Divrei Chaim of Tzanz (Nowy Sącz) called him "Mofes HaDor" — the wonder of the generation. Contemporary German-language press described him as "berühmte aber bescheidene, kluge und tiefgelehrte" — famous but humble, clever and deeply learned.
The 1864 Kaiser Delegation. In 5624 (1864), Rav Assad co-led the Hungarian Orthodox rabbinic delegation to Kaiser Franz Joseph I in Vienna, petitioning to block the establishment of a Reform rabbinical seminary. In the Imperial waiting room, with its vast mirrored walls, a remarkable moment unfolded: the Maharyi Assad saw his own reflection for the first time in his life — he had never looked in a mirror. He pointed to himself, turned to his colleagues, and whispered: "Look at that elderly Jew — you can see the Shechinah on his face — let him speak first." He had not recognized his own image. His colleague on the same delegation was R' Yirmiyahu Loew of Ujhel (Sátoraljaújhely) — also a primary rebbe of R' Yaakov Beilush.
Stories from R' Yaakov Beilush. R' Yaakov HaLevi Beilush — father of Rebbetzin Frimet, mother of R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman — served as a live-in student (Hoyz-Buchur) in the Maharyi Assad's home, and called him "Adoni Mori v'Rabbi" — my lord, my teacher, my rebbe — above all others in his sefer Pri Mishnas Yaakov. He witnessed two extraordinary experiences he never forgot: (1) The Heavenly Entourage — one erev Shabbos, as the Maharyi Assad entered to daven Mincha, R' Yaakov saw a vast heavenly army accompanying him. Overcome with awe and terror, he fled and hid, believing himself among the rare few who merited that vision. (2) The Midnight Voice — in the middle of one night, R' Yaakov heard his rebbe learning with tremendous intensity, and heard a second, extraordinarily beautiful voice learning with him from within the room, though no one had entered. The next morning he asked his rebbe about it. The Maharyi Assad's face turned white. He told R' Yaakov: the time had come to return home. "A bachur who heard that second voice — I do not want him serving me anymore."
The Photograph. He never allowed himself to be photographed during his lifetime. After his passing, some of his students dressed him in Shabbos clothing, sat him in his chair, and drew his image. His grandson R' Yehuda Goldstein writes in Toldot Maharya (Sabinov, 1931) that everyone who had any part in this was greatly harmed and passed away shortly afterward — as a heavenly punishment for disturbing the Rav's holy body after his death. The episode generated an extensive halachic polemic on whether such an act is permitted.
He passed away 23 Sivan 5626 (1866) in Szerdahely.
Born 5571 (1811), son of the Baal Shaarei Torah. His wife was descended from the author of Shemen Rokeach. He served as ABD of Ujhel (Sátoraljaújhely) from 5614 (1854) until his petirah on 17 Nissan 5634 (1874) at age 63 after a short illness. A talmid of the Maharam Banet of Nikolsburg.
His Yeshiva. Under R' Yirmiyahu, the Ujhel yeshiva grew to one of the largest in Hungary — 100–150 talmidim. Among his renowned talmidim was R' Yaakov HaLevi Beilush, father of Rebbetzin Frimet Lieberman.
The 1864 Kaiser Delegation. In 5624 (1864) he was part of the Hungarian Orthodox rabbinic delegation to Kaiser Franz Joseph I in Vienna, petitioning to block the establishment of a Reform rabbinical seminary. His colleague in that delegation was the Maharyi Assad of Szerdahely — also a rebbe of R' Yaakov Beilush.
The 1868 Congress Walkout. At the 1868 Jewish Congress, when it became clear the Neologim were taking control of the proceedings, R' Yirmiyahu leaped onto the table crying "ארור האיש אשר ישב במושב הלצים — Cursed is the man who sits in the seat of scoffers!" — and led 48 Orthodox delegates out permanently. This walkout was the decisive moment of the Hungarian Schism.
Ez Chaim — His Communal Foundation. Around 5607 (1847) — fifty years before its jubilee — R' Yirmiyahu founded the Ez Chaim charitable association in Ujhel, which served the community across all factions and was still active half a century after his petirah. The jubilee celebration in 1897 drew over 200 members and guests, and the festive speech was delivered by his son Lázár Loew, Chief Rabbi of Ungvár.
His Petirah and Levaya. Despite his explicit wishes against long hespedim or ornate Hebrew titles, on 17 Nissan 5634 (1874) trains from all directions brought thousands of his admirers to Ujhel for his levaya — which lasted from 10 AM to 4 PM. About twenty rabbis attended, along with delegations from Miskolc and even the Orthodox Authorised Implementation Commission from Pest. Forty handwritten Talmudic manuscripts of his were carried ahead of his coffin in the procession. A consortium was formed at the levaya to publish his works. During the funeral, donations were distributed to the poor regardless of religion. (Kaschauer Zeitung, April–June 1874.)
His Opposition to Chassidus & His Wit. R' Yirmiyahu was a well-known opponent of the Chassidic movement and his sharp wit on the subject became part of Hungarian-Jewish folklore. Two of his quips were preserved in Egyenlőség, the Hungarian Jewish weekly:
On the verse "יעלזו חסידים בכבוד — The chasidim shall rejoice in glory" (Tehillim 149:5), R' Yirmiyahu remarked with a Talmudic flourish: "It begins with the chasidim only because, if the verse had started with them, it couldn't possibly have ended 'in glory.'"
A chassid once came to him early in the morning, pestering him about personal matters in a rude, overfamiliar way. R' Yirmiyahu said to him: "You've helped me solve a great mystery today. Every morning we daven שתצילני היום ובכל יום מעזי פנים — 'Save me today and every day from arrogant people.' I never understood the words 'and every day' — wouldn't it be enough to ask to be saved today, since we'll say the prayer again tomorrow? But now I see the reason: what if the insolent one shows up before we've had a chance to say the prayer tomorrow?" (Reported by Szabolcsi Miksa in Egyenlőség, 30 May 1897.)
His Sefer. Divrei Yirmiyahu — his chiddushim on the Rambam — became a standard work in yeshivos and remains in print today.
His Son. His son Lázár Loew (R' Elazar Loew) of Ungvár succeeded to his own rabbanus there and was considered one of the leading Talmudic authorities of his generation. Despite repeated offers — including the Budapest Orthodox community in 1897 — he chose to remain in Ungvár.
The "Gaon of Radomishla" — a towering posek whose final decades and kever are in Kashau, on the Nesiya Tova kivrei-tzaddikim circuit
Birth & Early Years. Born on ל' ניסן / Rosh Chodesh Iyar ה'תרי"ג (8 May 1853) in Tarnów, western Galicia, to R' Zev Wolf Engel — a devoted chassid of the Divrei Chaim of Tzanz — and Esther. His father was niftar when Shmuel was about six. According to tradition he lost his eyesight as a young child and it was restored through the brachah of the Divrei Chaim. By his bar mitzvah he was said to know the entire Shas with Tosfos.
His Rebbe — Tzanz. He became a talmid muvhak of the Divrei Chaim of Tzanz and later of the Divrei Chaim's son, the Shinaver Rav (R' Yechezkel Halberstam). For a period he lived in Rudnik near his friend R' Boruch Halberstam of Gorlitz, learning together in nigleh and nistar.
Rabbinic Career. Already at about eighteen he was accepted as Av Beis Din of Bilgoraj. He later served as ABD of Dukla (from c. תרמ"א/1881) and from c. תרמ"ז (1887) as ABD of Radomyśl (Radomishla), by which he became famed as "der Gaon fun Radomishla." Halachic queries reached him from across the Jewish world, and his responsa are gathered in the seven volumes of Shu"t Maharash Engel (the later volumes published posthumously by his son).
Exile to Hungary & Kashau. During the upheavals of the First World War he was driven from town to town — including a period in Vác (Vaitzen), where, together with the Gaon of Vaitzen, he labored to free agunos, ruling on the giving of gittin through shluchim (recorded in Shu"t Maharash, vol. 6, §33). In תרפ"ז (1927) he settled in Kashau (Košice), where he was appointed Raavad and remained until his petirah. There — as throughout his life — he guarded the wall of religious observance, establishing eruvin and mikvaos in many towns of his districts, with the watchword of the Chasam Sofer ever on his lips: "חדש אסור מן התורה."
Petirah. He was niftar on י"ט אדר א' ה'תרצ"ה (22 February 1935) at a ripe old age and is buried in Kashau (Košice); his son R' Chaim Engel succeeded him on the rabbanus of Radomyśl. His kever in Kashau is a stop on the Nesiya Tova kivrei-tzaddikim circuit.
Founder of Liska chassidus — one of the most central rebbes of the Hungarian-chassidic family line
Birth and Early Years. Born on ה' אייר תקס"ח / 2 May 1808 in Ujhel (Sátoraljaújhely), northeastern Hungary, to R' Aharon Frischmann — a tzaddik nistar (hidden tzaddik) — and his wife Sarah. He was orphaned from his father at a young age. His family name was originally Frischmann; he changed it to Friedman in order to avoid conscription into the army.
His Rebbeim. He learned under R' Avraham of Dembitz and R' Tzvi Hersh Heller of Bonyhad. But his primary rebbi — in whose chassidic court he spent many years — was the Yismach Moshe of Ujhel. He also traveled to the great chassidic masters of his time: R' Yisrael of Ruzhin, R' Meir of Premishlan, R' Shalom of Belz, and others. Above all, the one who most decisively shaped his life and thought — and who actively encouraged and helped him establish himself as Rebbe — was the holy Divrei Chaim of Tzanz (Nowy Sącz).
His Rabbanus in Liska. On the recommendation of his rebbi the Yismach Moshe, he was chosen to lead the kehillah of Liska (Olaszliszka) in Zemplén county, northeastern Hungary. Thousands of chassidim streamed to him from across Hungary and neighboring lands to receive his counsel and berachos. After the Yismach Moshe's petirah in 1841, Liska Chassidus emerged as one of the most prominent chassidic centers in Hungary. Thousands converged on the newly-founded chassidic court — eager to bask in the warmth of the Lisker Rebbe's benevolence, to be inspired by his insights on the parshah, and to enjoy the singing, joy, and fellowship of a Shabbos tish at his table.
His Approach to Nusach. He himself davened in Nusach Sefard in his own beis medrash — but the pressure of the kehillah to maintain the tradition of their ancestors moved him to keep Nusach Ashkenaz intact in the central shul of Liska. Many other admorim of that generation followed the same path.
The Machlokes with R' Yirmiyahu Loew of Ujhel. The Lisker Rebbe was the subject of an extended machlokes with R' Yirmiyahu Loew, ABD Ujhel — the most consistent and uncompromising misnaged in Hungary, who in his vehemence even labeled the Lisker Rebbe a "Shabsai Tzvi." Most of the Hungarian rabbanim — yotzei the Pressburg yeshiva — maintained a guarded distance from the chassidic movement, and the misnagdic opposition in Hungary was sharp.
His Seforim. Ach Pri Tevuah on the Torah (after which he is universally known) · HaYashar VeHaTov — his collected drashos and hespedim · Divrei Rabbeinu Tzvi Hersh (collected, New York, תשפ"ב).
His Petirah. Niftar on י"ד אב תרל"ד / 28 July 1874, at age 66. Buried in Liska (Olaszliszka), where his kever remains a place of tefillah to this day.
The Liska Dynasty. He had two sons-in-law: R' Chaim Friedlander (the Tal Chaim) and R' Yoizefa Goldberger. He was succeeded as Liska Rebbe by his son-in-law R' Chaim Friedlander — the second Liska Rebbe (niftar ט' אייר תרס"ד / 1904). R' Chaim was succeeded by his son R' Tzvi Hersh Friedlander — the Shaarei HaYosher, the third Liska Rebbe — who refused to flee during the Holocaust and was murdered al kiddush Hashem in Auschwitz on כ"ז אייר תש"ד (1944) הי"ד. The Lisker court was reestablished in Brooklyn after the war by R' Yosef Friedlander, and continues to this day.
His Talmidim and the Family Connections. His most famous personal talmid was Reb Shayele of Kerestir (R' Yeshaya Steiner), who served as his gabbai during his rebbi's lifetime and was later instructed by R' Mordechai Leifer of Nadvorna to take up the admorus at Kerestir. The Lisker Rebbe stood at the very center of our family's chassidic world:
· He was the primary chassidishe rebbe of Rav Herzkele Ratzferter — the grandfather of Rebbetzin Frimet — and the one to whom Rav Herzkele came when seeking a shidduch for his daughter Bina Gittel.
· He was the primary chassidishe rebbe of R' Yaakov Beilush — Frimet's father — and named in his chiddushim.
· He was the rebbi of Reb Meir Avraham of Liska (Generation 4 — son of Reb Shimon of Shenya), who lived in Liska to be near his rebbi. After Reb Meir Avraham's passing, the Lisker Rebbe delivered a bitter and emotional hesped — printed at the conclusion of his sefer HaYashar VeHaTov — in which he publicly declared that he had hoped Reb Meir Avraham would one day "fill his place." He further instructed that the word "tzaddik" be engraved on Reb Meir Avraham's tombstone.
· Most personally — the Lisker Rebbe personally arranged the shidduch of R' Yaakov Beilush with Rav Herzkele's daughter Bina Gittel — the marriage from which Rebbetzin Frimet, our great-grandmother, was born. The continuity of our direct family line passed through his hands.
Origins. Born in ה'תקע"ו (1816) in Yozefsdorf (Joachimsthal) near Karlsbad, Bohemia (today Jáchymov, Czech Republic), to R' Mordechai Segal-Lowy and Zelda — descendants of the holy Tosfos Yom Tov (R' Yom Tov Lipmann Heller). Orphaned from his father in his youth, his mother — fearing the rapid spread of the Haskalah movement in Bohemia — sent him to learn in the yeshivos of Hungary, then the great fortress of Hungarian Torah.
His Rebbeim in Torah. He studied successively under R' Avraham Yitzchok Weinberger (later known as the Pnei Yitzchok, Rav of Kleinwardein), R' Dovid Schick (the Imrei Dovid, ABD Tokaj), R' Avraham Shag (the Bercas Avraham of Kobersdorf, who in his final years moved to Eretz Yisrael), and finally — most decisively — at the great yeshiva of the Maharam Asch in Ungvár, where he was recognized as a matmid of exceptional dveikus and yiras Shamayim. Later, while learning at the yeshiva of R' Meir Perls in Karoly, he was appointed a maggid shiur in that yeshiva and began his transition toward the chassidic world.
His Chassidishe Rebbeim. His primary chassidishe rebbe was the holy R' Yitzchok Aizik Yehuda Yechiel Safrin of Komarno — the Heichal HaBerachah — who later declared, in connection with him, that "he is your rebbe by the root of your neshamah." He was also a close talmid of R' Dovid Shapira of Dinov, who refused to put up the schach on his sukkah without him, calling him "the noi sukkah." The Dinover Rebbe one day told him: "You no longer need me — I will teach you the sod of reading kvitlach, and from now on you yourself will read them" — granting him the semicha of admorus. He also traveled to the Divrei Chaim of Tzanz (who marveled at his Shabbos avodah), Reb Hershele of Liska (mutual visits — the Lisker Rebbe also traveled to him), R' Yitzchok Aizik of Zidichov, and R' Moshe Teitelbaum of Ujhel — the Yismach Moshe.
★ The Chevraya Kadisha d'Ashvar. His shver was R' Yeshaya Dovid Kuperstein of Ashvar — son-in-law of R' Yisroel Iser of Bachta, grandson of R' Yaakov Kopel of Likve — and one of the famed members of the Chevraya Kadisha d'Ashvar, the celebrated fellowship of chassidim of the Kaliver Rebbe who were exceptional ovdei Hashem and bekiim in Torah haChn. The gedolim of the dor punned on the name of the town: "אש ואור" — fire and light. At his wedding, the Komarner Rebbe himself attended with thousands of his chassidim, and when other bachurim sought to trip up the chosson in pilpul, the Rebbe rose and declared: "He learns Torah lishmah — and all his words are the truth of Torah. You must conduct yourselves with him with derech eretz."
Rav of Tosh — and "The Saraf". After his marriage he lived briefly in Tashsar and Tegelos (where he served as a melamed), then was appointed Rav of Tosh (Nyírtass) in Szabolcs county, northeastern Hungary, where he served for many years until his petirah. He led a chassidic court at Tosh, with Yidden streaming to him on Shabbos and Yom Tov from across the surrounding regions. He came to be called by his chassidim "the Saraf" (השרף — "the Seraph") — for his avodah beyond the grasp of human comprehension. He was a vast pazran in tzedakah, distributing enormous sums to the poor and broken-hearted, and stood among the gedolim of his generation who fought against pirtzas gidrei Yisrael, participating in the great asefah on the kehillah-split in Hungary.
★ Primary Rebbe of Rav Herzkele Ratzferter — Direct Chassidic Ancestor of Our Family. Among the four primary rebbeim of Rav Herzkele Ratzferter — the maternal grandfather of Rebbetzin Frimet, our great-grandmother — was the Saraf of Tosh. Through this rebbe-talmid bond, the Saraf's chassidic mesorah — drawing from Komarno, Dinov, Tzanz, and Liska — passed directly into the rabbanus of our family, from Ratzfert through R' Yaakov Beilush to R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman.
His Petirah — Mesiras Nefesh for His Kehillah. In ה'תרל"ג (1873) a devastating cholera epidemic broke out in the region. Many fell to the plague — including two of his own sons. The Saraf accepted upon himself mesiras nefesh that the epidemic should cease, and was niftar on כ"ח סיון תרל"ג, at age 57. He was buried in Tosh, where a great ohel was built over his kever and remains a place of tefillah to this day. His matzeivah reads: "פ"נ הרב הצדיק, בוצינא קדישא, חסידא ופרישא, עובד השם בקדושה ובטהרה, ומתלהב בתורה ובתפילה כאש בוערה" — "Here is buried the rav and tzaddik, the holy lamp, chassid and parush, who served Hashem in kedusha and tahara, and was aflame in Torah and tefillah like a blazing fire."
Succession and the Kaliv Connection. Since his son R' Elimelech was only eight at the time of his petirah, the Tosh rabbanus passed first to his son-in-law R' Yehosef Rotenberg — who married his daughter Sara Yutel and went on to found the Kosson chassidic dynasty. When R' Yehosef moved to Debrecen in אייר תרנ"ד (1894), the Tosh rabbanus was given to R' Menachem Brody — the Be'er Menachem — who had married the Saraf's orphaned daughter Miriam, with the explicit condition that when R' Elimelech grew up, the rabbanus would pass to him by right of inheritance. R' Menachem Brody later became Rav of Kaliv (Nagykálló), where he served until his petirah — connecting Tosh directly to the founding court of Hungarian chassidus. In תרנ"ח (1898), R' Elimelech accepted the Tosh rabbanus and became known to his chassidim as "the Sava Kadisha"; the Tosh dynasty continues to this day, now centered in Kiryas Tosh in Boisbriand near Montreal, Canada — established in 1962 by the Saraf's great-grandson R' Meshulam Feish Lowy II.
A great Hungarian gaon and posek of the mid-nineteenth century — talmid of the Chasam Sofer house, ABD successively of three Hungarian rabbanuses including Chust before settling in Sevlush, rebbe of our great-great-grandfather Rav Herzkele Ratzferter
Birth and Lineage. Born ה'תקס"ה (1805) in the village of Aber Szováth (Sziládi region, Transylvania), to his father R' Yosef and his mother Pesil — a niece of R' Pinchas, the Baal HaHafla'ah, and a granddaughter of R' Tzvi of Czortków. He was named for his mother's great-uncle, Reb Shmelke of Nikolsburg. His mother passed away in his youth, shortly after the birth of her second son. As a small boy he already showed the marks of an iluy — he taught himself the alef-beis within a single month and began producing chiddushei Torah of his own at an age when most boys were only beginning to read Chumash. On one occasion he repeated his chiddushim before the Ksav Sofer, who praised them enthusiastically.
The Christian Bell. One famous early incident: the Christians of his town claimed every year, in the days before Easter, that "their man" descended from heaven and carried the church bell off to Rome. The young R' Shmelka, refusing to let the lie stand, secretly placed an animal carcass on top of the bell. The carcass attracted the village dogs, who climbed up to seize it, and in their pulling caused the bell to ring loudly — exposing the deception in full public view. He had to flee the town when the church turned against him.
His Yeshiva Years. He studied in the town of Eshvar near Sátmár, and by the age of thirteen was already fluent across many mesechtas. At twelve he was sent to one of the major Hungarian yeshivos — torn between Pressburg and Lackenbach, he cast lots and Lackenbach was chosen. When he arrived, he found that R' Shalom Charif Ullmann (the elder Lackenbacher Gaon, father of the Yerios Shlomo) had stepped back and his son R' Shlomo Zalman was leading. He began learning with the son, but very quickly his stature was recognized: he became the personal chavrusa of the elder R' Shalom Charif himself. He then traveled to Pressburg to receive from the Chasam Sofer.
Marriage. He married Devorah, daughter of R' Aharon Shlomo HaKohen of Aranyosmeggyes (Maramures) — known as "R' Shloimche Charif." After the wedding he settled in the town of Almás.
His Rabbanus Chain. In ה'תקצ"ג (1833), at age 28, he was appointed Rav of Bilkeny (Bilki), where he served for approximately 13 years and established a yeshiva for the study of Gemara. From there he was elevated to the kisei haRabbanus of Chust (Huszt) — taking over because his predecessor, R' Menachem Asch, had departed to succeed his father (the Maharam Asch) on the Ungvár rabbanus. In Chust he opened a yeshiva that grew to roughly 100 talmidim at its peak. Finally, in ה'תרכ"ה (1865), he was called to Sevlush (Nagyszőlős · Vynohradiv) — when the previous Sevlusher Rav was promoted to the Chief Rabbinate of Transylvania (Siebenbürgen). The Chust community fought intensely to retain him, but he ultimately accepted Sevlush, where he served until his petirah ten years later. He transplanted his yeshiva to Sevlush, where it continued to grow. His yeshiva was officially recognized — along with thirty-one others — as a preparatory yeshiva for Pressburg, which earned its talmidim official exemption from military conscription in the region.
Rebbe of Rav Herzkele Ratzferter — Our Family. Among the named talmidim of the Selisher Rav is R' Naftali Hertzka Zilberman of Ratzfert — known throughout Hungary as "Rav Herzkele Ratzferter" — the direct great-great-grandfather of Rebbetzin Frimet Beilush הי"ד (wife of Reb Ahron Mordechai Lieberman). The Torah passed from the Selisher Rav, through Rav Herzkele's beis medrash in Ratzfert (Újfehértó), into the spiritual world the Lieberman family would inhabit for the next four generations.
Baal Menagen. In addition to his halachic and yeshiva-building work, the Selisher Rav was renowned as a composer of niggunim. Two of his compositions in particular spread far beyond his immediate orbit and are sung in Hungarian kehillos to this day: his niggun for Hallel and his niggun for the brachah on Besamim at Havdalah motzaei Shabbos. He also served as a moheil — taking on the role, the sources record, after dreaming that his namesake Reb Shmelke of Nikolsburg appeared to him and commanded him to take up the sakin of milah.
His Hanhagah of Beracha. When yidden came to him for a beracha for refuah, he would not bentch them in the standard way. Instead he would say that in the zechus of the chiddushim he had been mechadesh in Torah, or in the zechus of the Torah he had learned, the choleh should be healed. He bound every yeshuah he gave to limud haTorah — a hanhagah noted by his talmidim as the distinctive sign of his beis medrash.
Place in the Hungarian Rabbinate. The Selisher Rav corresponded in halacha with virtually every gadol of his generation. Letters survive to and from the Chasam Sofer, the Ksav Sofer, and the Divrei Chaim of Tzanz, among others. In ה'תרכ"ט (1869), he was among the signatories on the famous kol koreh opposing the resolutions of the Hungarian Jewish Congress — the document that crystallized the Orthodox break from the emerging Neolog movement and triggered the formal split in Hungarian Jewish communal life.
Petirah and Succession. He was niftar on ט' אדר ב' ה'תרל"ה (1875) at approximately 70 years of age and buried in the Sevlush beis hachaim. His son R' Pinchas Chaim Klein succeeded him on the Sevlush rabbanus. Other sons served on Hungarian rabbanuses: R' Yaakov (Tetsch and Bilkeny), R' Shalom (Halmin), R' Moshe (Szilágytő), R' Eliyahu (Halmin), R' Naftali Hirtzka, and his son R' Shmuel Menachem Klein served as ABD Csécsovce (son-in-law of R' Moshe Shmuel Glasner of Klausenburg) before his petirah on 15 Tishrei תרפ"ו. One of his daughters, Leah, married R' Sinai Leib Weiss of Sátmár.
Talmidim. Beyond Rav Herzkele Ratzferter, his named talmidim include R' Yosef Meir Weiss — the first Spinka Rebbe, mechaber of Imrei Yosef · R' Avraham Yitzchok Glick (Shu"t Be'er Yitzchok and Yad Yitzchok) · R' Aharon Yeshaya Fisch (ABD Hodász) · R' Moshe Yungreis (ABD Kashau · already on this site) · R' Avraham Chaim Einhorn (Atzei HaOlah) · R' Moshe Chaim Weiss (Bris Moshe on the Smag) · R' Moshe Shlomo Weiss (father of the Shemen LaMincha) · R' Boruch Hendler (Halmin).
His Sefer. Tzror HaChaim, his chiddushim on the sugyos of Shas with liktuim on divrei Torah, was published in Munkacs ה'תרל"ו (1876) — the year after his petirah — and has been reprinted multiple times, most recently in the expanded Tzror HaChaim HaShalem in two volumes (Yerushalayim ה'תשס"ה).
His Origins. Born in Roidnitz, Bohemia, around 5573 (1813), son of the gaon R' Avraham Aharon Deutsch זצ"ל. His grandfather, R' Yosef Deutsch, Av Beis Din of his community, traced his lineage to the Maharal of Prague. He was given the name "Dovid" at birth; the name "Aharon" was added in 5622 during a serious illness from which he ultimately recovered. Already in his youth he displayed extraordinary brilliance and diligence.
His Formation. In 5587 (1827), at approximately fourteen years of age, he traveled to Prague to learn in the yeshiva of R' Leib Glogau זצ"ל, remaining until 5590. He then journeyed to Pressburg (Pozsony) to study under R' Moshe Sofer, the Chasam Sofer. Despite being only approximately seventeen years old, the Chasam Sofer cherished him greatly and spoke of him in extraordinary terms. It was said that when the Chasam Sofer stood in tefilah, he declared that he relied upon the zechusim of "Reb Dovid of Prague," adding that he was assured a share in Olam Haba. Reb Aharon Dovid became renowned for his exceptional kedushah, engaging in many taanesim and ascetic practices during his younger years.
His Rabbinate. In 5600 (1840) he moved to Irsha, where he married the daughter of R' Nosson Eliyahu Ehrman ז"ל. From there he relocated to Budapest (Pest), where he delivered shiurim and taught Torah. After approximately a year he returned to Pressburg, where he married his second wife, the daughter of the gaon R' Mendel Katz זצ"ל. In 5606 (1846) he was accepted as Rav of Shebesh and the surrounding region. In 5611 (1851) he became Av Beis Din of Balassagyarmat, where he remained for the final twenty-seven years of his life, establishing Torah institutions and a flourishing yeshiva, personally delivering shiurim and producing many distinguished talmidim who later became leading rabbanim throughout Hungary.
His Talmidim. Among the prominent talmidim who emerged from his yeshiva: R' Shimon Sofer (grandson of the Chasam Sofer); R' Yehuda Greenwald; members of the renowned Jungreis rabbinic family, R' Meir Jungreis, R' Shmuel Dovid Jungreis, and R' Moshe Jungreis (already on this site); and his nephew R' Moshe Nachum Wallenstein, later founder and Raavad of the Eidah HaChareidis in Yerushalayim and founder of Kollel Shomrei HaChomos. Through these talmidim, the influence of the Goren Dovid spread broadly throughout the Torah world of Hungary and beyond.
Champion of Hungarian Orthodoxy. Reb Aharon Dovid stood at the forefront of every matter involving the preservation of Torah and authentic Yiddishkeit, emerging as one of the primary fighters against the forces seeking to weaken traditional Judaism in Hungary. He maintained extensive halachic correspondence with R' Moshe Schick, R' Hillel Lichtenstein, the Maharyi Assad, R' Meir Eisenstaedter, and others. During the famous controversy regarding the kashrus of turkeys, he was among the leading rabbanim who prohibited them. He stood at the forefront of the Orthodox resistance during the Hungarian Jewish Congress of 1868–69, advocating complete separation from the Neolog movement and working tirelessly to secure independent Orthodox communal structures during the formal organizational split of Hungarian Jewry, the Taylung. When offered the rabbinate of Pápa, he refused, because the bimah had been moved from the center of the shul toward the Aron Kodesh in the Reform style. He viewed this as a dangerous breach in mesorah and would not lend it legitimacy. The great Torah leaders of the generation, particularly R' Chaim Halberstam of Tzanz (Nowy Sącz) (the Divrei Chaim) and the leaders of Liska (Olaszliszka), strongly supported his efforts throughout these battles.
The Divrei Chaim's Letter. One of the clearest testimonies to the esteem in which he was held by R' Chaim Halberstam is found in the famous responsum addressed to him in 5622 regarding the kashrus of turkey fowl (Shu"t Divrei Chaim, Yoreh De'ah II:47). Beyond the halachic discussion itself, the letter became renowned for the Divrei Chaim's passionate defense of the Chassidim and the Torah world of Galicia and Poland against slander spread by opponents who claimed that the Chassidim neglected serious learning. The Divrei Chaim writes forcefully that the entire occupation of the Chassidim and rabbanim was immersed in in-depth study of Shas, halachah, and responsa, while Kabbalah was learned only during late nighttime hours. He condemns those who spread false accusations against the gedolei Torah of Poland, dismissing their shallow pilpulim as "שטותים והבלים", foolishness and vanity. He praises the humility of Polish talmidei chachamim who toiled simply to properly understand a Maharsha or Magen Avraham, rather than rushing to produce superficial novelties without genuine depth. The responsum concludes with extraordinary warmth:
"והי׳ שלום וברכה כנפש אהובו מאד צמוד בחבלי עבותות אהבה דורש שלום תורתו בלב ונפש חפיצה"
"And may there be peace and blessing, from one who loves him greatly, bound in the cords of strong love, who seeks the welfare of his Torah with a willing heart and soul."
His Sefer & Passing. His responsa Goren Dovid became one of the important halachic works produced by the Hungarian rabbinic world and secured his lasting legacy among talmidei chachamim. Reb Aharon Dovid Deutsch passed away on 23 Nissan 5638 (1878) and is buried in Balassagyarmat, where his kever remains associated with the uncompromising Hungarian Orthodox tradition he fought so passionately to preserve.
Born 1 Av 5584 (1824) in Mád, Hungary — the very city of our family's origins — to R' Pinchas Zelig HaKohen Schwartz, known as "Reb Zelig Chassida." His mother passed away while he was young and in her memory he adopted her maiden name Schwartz. By age 10 he was recognized as an iluy. He first learned under R' Yitzchak Nosson Lipshutz, ABD of Mád, then at age 14 entered the yeshiva of the Chasam Sofer in Pressburg (Pozsony) — who drew him close and loved him greatly. After the Chasam Sofer's passing he studied under R' Binyamin Wolf Loew in Verbó. At age 17 he married Feiga, daughter of the nagid R' Moshe Leib Ginzler of Ujhel (Sátoraljaújhely), living at his father-in-law's table and learning the writings of the Arizal together with the Yitav Lev of Sighet (Máramarossziget). He then returned to Mád, founded a yeshiva there, and refused several rabbinical appointments. In 5621 (1861), on the express advice of his rebbe the Divrei Chaim of Tzanz (Nowy Sącz), he accepted the rabbinate of Bergsas (Berehove), leading a yeshiva of ~50 talmidim. He spent Shavuos in Tzanz for 26 successive years. The Divrei Chaim declared: "He knows a true talmid chacham in Hungary — it is Reb Avraham Leib of Bergsas." Known as a baal mofes: the people of Mád and Bergsas would come to him with a toothache — he would place his finger on the aching tooth and immediately the pain would cease. His homilies blazed like fire and his tefillos penetrated to the depths of the soul. After a prolonged controversy in Bergsas he returned to Mád, where he served as Rav until his passing. He fell ill during Sukkos 5644 and passed away on 24 Tishrei 5644 (1883).
His one halachic work — responsa Kol Aryeh — was received with great love in all countries. Published in 5664 (1904) in Shimlov by his grandson R' Shlomo Zalman Ehrenreich. He had 5 sons and 6 daughters. His son R' Naftali Schwartz (Beis Naftali) succeeded him as Rav of Mád. His grandsons R' Shlomo Zalman Ehrenreich and R' Chaim Tzvi Ehrenreich later led the Mád yeshiva. His great-grandson R' Moshe Yehuda Leib Ehrenreich הי"ד was the last Rav of Mád, murdered in the Holocaust. He and R' Naftali are both buried in Mád, their kevarim visited to this day.
Born 3 Tishrei 5582 / 29 September 1821 in Pressburg (Pozsony), Hungary (today Pressburg, Slovakia) to R' Mordechai Efraim Fischel. The Chasam Sofer was his mohel — circumcising him on Yom Kippur. At age 11 he entered the Chasam Sofer's yeshiva in Pressburg, where he became known as one of the Chasam Sofer's most distinguished talmidim — they remained close until his rebbi's death in 1839. He also learned under R' Meir Eisenstadter — the Maharam Asch of Ungvár, Hungary (today Uzhhorod, Ukraine).
Rabbinic Career. At age 23 (1844), he began teaching in a yeshiva in Mattersdorf, Hungary (today Mattersburg, Austria). He then served as Rav of Gyömöre, Hungary (1852) → Sajószentpéter, Hungary (1859) → and from 1868 as Chief Rabbi of Munkacs, Hungary (today Munkacs, Ukraine). In Munkacs he refused to introduce any "innovations" in Judaism — yet was nonetheless considered insufficiently chassidic by some elements of the community, and in 1879 the position was given to one of the Munkacs chassidic rabbis. That same year he was elected Chief Rabbi of the Orthodox kehilla of the newly merged city of Budapest — the most prestigious Orthodox rabbinic position in Hungary — where he officiated until his death seven years later.
Drafter of the Hungarian Schism. The Machaneh Chaim was the third pillar — alongside R' Hillel Lichtenstein and R' Akiva Yosef Schlesinger (both on this page) — of the radical Hungarian Orthodox triumvirate that fought R' Azriel Hildesheimer's neo-Orthodox movement in the 1860s. Modern historians (Adam Ferziger, Jacob Katz) describe him as the group's posek — the halachic decisor of the zealot camp. On 22 November 1869, in the aftermath of the failed Hungarian Jewish Congress, he drafted the foundational decree of the Hungarian Schism — signed by 27 other leading Orthodox rabbis including the Maharam Schick, the Ksav Sofer, R' Yirmiyahu Loew of Ujhely, and R' Meir Perls — declaring that participation in elections under the new Congressional laws would mean accepting them as binding. The decree institutionalized the permanent Orthodox–Neolog split that defined Hungarian Jewish life until the Holocaust. Later, in spring 1872, he wrote to the Maharam Schick proposing a formal cherem on all members of Neolog/Congressional communities — forbidding intermarriage between them and Orthodox Jews. The Maharam Schick declined on practical grounds. He was famously called "the Major Warrior against the Enlightenment" (HaLochem HaGadol Neged HaHaskalah).
His Seforim. A prolific author across every area of Torah: Shu"t Machaneh Chaim — his magnum opus, responsa in three sections on Yoreh Deah, Choshen Mishpat, and Even HaEzer (first edition Ungvár & Munkacs 1873–75; multiple expanded editions); Peles Chaim on Maseches Gittin (Pressburg 1854 — his first published work); Kol Sofer on Mishnayos; Divrei Shaarei Chaim on the Torah; Shaarei Chaim on Nach; Tehillim Shaarei Chaim — commentary on Tehillim; Drashos Toras Chesed — derashos; Eshkol HaSofer on aggados of Shas; Shaarei Chaim on the laws of chillul Shabbos (Sajószentpéter); and his published letters, Michtavei K"N Sofer.
Co-Defender of the Yiddish Drashah. He was a leading voice — together with the Maharam Schick, with whom he is frequently cited in tandem in halachic literature — in defending the prohibition against Hungarian-language drashos in shul, a position that R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman of Felegyhaz (Kiskunfélegyháza) would invoke half a century later when faced with similar pressure from assimilationist elements of his own community.
His Petirah & Family. Niftar in Budapest on 25 Sivan 5646 / 28 June 1886 at age 64. Buried in the New Beis HaChaim of Pressburg, his birthplace — alongside the Ksav Sofer and the Shevet Sofer. Succeeded in Budapest by R' Koppel Reich. His son R' Yaakov Shalom Sofer (1854–1921) succeeded him as Dayan of Budapest and authored Toras Chaim, Yeshvav Sofer, and Chiddushei Shas; his other son R' Akiva Yechezkel Sofer served him for many years. His grandchildren through R' Yaakov Shalom served as rabbonim in Arad and Paks.
Talmid of R' Yisrael Salanter. R' Simcha Mordechai Zisskind Ziv was born in תקפ"ד (1824) in the town of Kelm, in the Kovno governorate of Lita, to the distinguished Broida family — his father reckoned among the great lamdanim of the generation, his mother renowned for her tzidkus. From childhood he stood out for his powers of leadership, the depth of his thought, and his great gifts. He married very young, and traveled to learn in the beis medrash that R' Yisrael Salanter had founded in Kovno; hearing his rebbi's mussar shmuessen, he crowned him his rebbi muvhak and became his foremost talmid, holding that the very heart of a person's avodah lies in bein adam la'chaveiro — in his conduct toward his fellow and his help to others.
The Talmud Torah of Kelm. In his town he founded the Talmud Torah of Kelm — a yeshiva that was among the great disseminators of the mussar movement, built upon the seforim of the Ramchal, and famed for the exemplary conduct of its talmidim. When it first closed, he reopened the beis hamussar in the town of Grobin, in Kurland (today in Latvia), before returning to Kelm. In Kelm there was no concept of an interruption in learning, of any lateness, or of distraction to other things; and where in other yeshivos the mussar seder lasted half an hour, in Kelm it ran a full hour.
Gadlus HaAdam. A central point that R' Simcha Zissel pressed was Gadlus HaAdam — the greatness of man. In Kelm a talmid was brought to feel his own importance not through pride, but through the recognition of his own worth; for through recognizing his worth, R' Simcha held, a person comes to grasp the tasks laid upon him and the greatness of the responsibility resting on him. This approach was developed further, in the generation after him, by his talmid R' Nosson Tzvi Finkel, and became the mark of the Slabodka school.
A Life of Emes & Poverty. He would not benefit from public funds, and for that reason refused even to take from the yeshiva's monies; for their parnasa his rebbetzin opened a store, yet their straits were so pressing that they ate only a porridge of barley, and in winter had not the means to heat the stove in their home. So too in his avodah he clung to emes: it is told that he refrained from saying the viduy of Rabbeinu Nissim Gaon at the Yom Kippur Katan tefillah, asking how he could utter words of trembling and quaking when he did not feel them within himself.
His Talmidim, Sefarim & Petirah. From Kelm went out a generation of the mussar world's builders — among them R' Nosson Tzvi Finkel (the Alter of Slabodka), R' Isser Zalman Meltzer, R' Moshe Mordechai Epstein, R' Yosef Leib Bloch of Telz, and the Mashgiach R' Yerucham Levovitz. His teachings were gathered into Chochmah u'Mussar and the Kisvei HaSaba miKelm. He was niftar on ח' אב ה'תרנ"ח (26 July 1898) and was buried in Kelm. After his petirah the Talmud Torah was led for some three years by his brother R' Aryeh Leib Broida, and then by his son-in-law R' Tzvi Hirsch Broida together with his son R' Nochum Zev Ziv. Among his children were R' Nochum Zev (who led the Talmud Torah after him), R' Avraham Yosef Broida (moreh tzedek of Karlsruhe), and his daughters Rachel Gittel and Nechama Liba — the latter the wife of R' Tzvi Hirsch Broida, murdered by the Nazis in the Kelm massacre of תש"א.
The son-in-law and ממלא מקום of Reb Hershele Liska — under whose 30-year tenure as Liska Rebbe the family's bond to the Liska court continued straight through R' Ahron Mordechai's youth, until just one year before his marriage to Frimet
Birth and Lineage. Born in the year תקצ"ו (1836) in Kleinwardein (Kisvárda), Hungary. His father was the holy gaon R' Moshe Friedlander zt"l, Dayan of Kleinwardein, son of R' Dovid Friedlander, ABD Kleinwardein — and he was named after his grandfather R' Chaim, Dayan of Kleinwardein. His mother was the tzadekes Rebbetzin Bracha a"h, daughter of the gaon R' Yehuda Leibush zt"l, ABD Kleinwardein — a direct descendant of the Maharsha (R' Shmuel Eliezer Eidels of Ostroh) with a lineage tracing back to Dovid HaMelech.
His Rebbeim. Already in his youth he displayed extraordinary hasmadah, kedushah, and gadlus baTorah. As a bachur he learned under the gaon R' Meir Perls zt"l, ABD Karoly. He was a close chavrusa throughout his life of his brother-in-law, the famed gaon R' Yoizefa Goldberger zt"l.
The Bachur-Test Before the Shidduch — "Drei Pshetlach, Dos Iz Vos Ich Ken." The Liska Rebbe of today (Reb Yoizefa) related: when the shidduch with the Ach Pri Tevuah's daughter was proposed, Reb Hershele Liska sent two of his chassidim to Kleinwardein to test the bachur in learning — one was a talmid muvhak and gaon, the second a chashuver chassid but not a great talmid chacham. Upon arrival, the gaon-shliach suddenly fell ill, so the second shliach went to meet the bachur alone. The young Reb Chaim — assuming the Lisker Rebbe had sent a great talmid chacham — began saying a profound pilpul, "gag al gag." Noticing the shliach's silence, he assumed the man had difficulties with the pshetl and was holding back his kashyos. He said another pshetl, deeper still. Again silence. He started a third pshetl — and again silence. Finally Reb Chaim said: "Chashuver gast — that is everything I can. More than this I cannot. Tell your Rebbe: that is what I know, and no more." When the shliach returned and reported on the bachur to his colleague the gaon, that talmid chacham could not understand a word of the depth that had been described to him. The gaon-shliach later went himself once he recovered and was astonished to find a bachur "מלא וגדוש בש"ס ופוסקים." Both came back with the same report. The Ach Pri Tevuah took him for his son-in-law and eventual ממלא מקום.
Marriage and Entry Into the Liska Court. On ח' כסלו ה'תר"ך (December 1859) he married the tzadekes Rebbetzin Chaya Sarah a"h, daughter of the Ach Pri Tevuah of Liska. Through this marriage Reb Chaim entered the inner circle of the Liska court and became the foremost talmid and eventual successor of his illustrious shver. The Ach Pri Tevuah cherished him "like the apple of his eye, loved him as his own son with everlasting affection." When Reb Chaim — a gaon of extraordinary humility who refused to write down his chiddushim — finally yielded to his shver's instruction and brought him a written chibur, the Ach Pri Tevuah kissed the chibur. His first rebbetzin was niftar on כ"ז תשרי תרל"א (1870). He then married in his zivug sheni the tzadekes Rebbetzin Miriam a"h, daughter of his brother-in-law the gaon R' Avraham Schwartz zt"l — himself another son-in-law of the Ach Pri Tevuah.
The Mafter Mesoirah — Shavuos תרל"ד. The Ach Pri Tevuah had a yearly minhag of taking the maftir on the first day of Shavuos himself — and he was extremely makpid on this aliyah, for one reads then the awesome haftorah of Maaseh Merkavah. In the final year of his life — Shavuos תרל"ד — the Ach Pri Tevuah instructed the gabbai to give the mafter to his son-in-law Reb Chaim. The kehillah did not understand why the Rebbe — who had never relinquished this aliyah — was giving it to Reb Chaim now. Only two months later, on י"ד אב תרל"ד, when the Ach Pri Tevuah was niftar, did the chassidim grasp retroactively what had transpired: with that single aliyah, the Ach Pri Tevuah had transferred the shevet harabbanus and the holy hanhagah to his son-in-law, ordaining him as ממלא מקום to continue leading edas tzon mar'iso b'kesser ha'admorus.
Liska Rebbe — 1874-1904. Following his shver's petirah, Reb Chaim was accepted by Liska chassidim as Av Beis Din v'Admor of Liska, a position he held for thirty years until his own petirah. He became famous throughout Hungary "mit zayne doppelte koichos" — both as a gaon adir vacharif baTorah who knew Shas through and through (aser kol raz lo anis lei) and as a tzaddik vekadosh u'po'el yeshu'os bekerev haaretz. Niflaos uncountable were wrought through him, and untold numbers of Yidden were helped at his court.
"Ein Daf Gemara Is More Than the Entire Rebistveh." Because of his outstanding hasmadah, the Tal Chaim — unlike other tzaddikim of his era — almost never traveled out of Liska. Once, when his parnasah was tight (he was preparing for a child's chasunah), his household urged him to travel out for one Shabbos. He went to Kashau (Košice). Many people came to him with kvitlach and pidyonos. Instead of rejoicing at the success, the Tal Chaim was deeply distressed that the visit had caused him much bitul Torah, and declared: "Ein daf Gemara is more wert than the whole rebistveh" — one daf of Gemara is worth more than the entire admorus.
The "Alte Moiden" of Erdő-Bánya — A Story of Holy Temimus. While the Tal Chaim was still serving as Rav in Erdő-Bánya, during his shver's lifetime, he was kavod with mesader kiddushin at a chasunah. As was his minhag, when entering the women's section for the badeken he kept his eyes shut and was led by two gabbaim. Once, due to commotion in the room, he was jostled — and for a moment his eyes opened. He noticed several women going with their own (uncovered) hair. With his pure temimus, he assumed these must be "alte moiden" — unmarried older girls who had not yet had a shidduch. At the seudas hachasunah he delivered the customary derashah, and burst into tears: "I had no idea our town has so many alte moiden — one can see from their hair that they are already turning gray. May Heaven have rachmanus on them and send them their proper zivugim, that they should all find kosher zivugim this very year!" The women were in fact married women whose husbands now panicked at the Tal Chaim's "brachah" — fearing it would be fulfilled with their own deaths, leaving their wives as almanos to be remarried. The husbands immediately ordered their wives to shave their hair. With his temimus'diger bracha, the Tal Chaim transformed the entire town into ehrliche Yiddishe shtiber where the women conducted themselves in tznius v'yiras Hashem.
The Wolf Engel Niflaos. R' Wolf Engel of Halush — a great Liska chassid — had a store he kept open on Sundays, drawing the wrath of the local priest who incited the Christian townspeople to boycott. R' Wolf came to the Tal Chaim for a brachah and gave a kvitl with a pidyon. He had two banknotes — a red ten-gulden and a blue five-gulden — and intended to give the larger note. Suddenly the Tal Chaim — who never knew one denomination from another ("eino makir betzurta dezuza," so absorbed in Torah was he) — said to him: "Give the blue one — for the color blue points to midas harachamim." The Tal Chaim then took fire, lit the kvitl, and used it to light his pipe. R' Wolf was alarmed but did not dare speak. After a long while the Tal Chaim said: "Don't be afraid. I received from my shver the Ach Pri Tevuah: 'A goy must bend or lie down.' Go home and you will see a yeshuah." Arriving home in Halush, R' Wolf heard the church bells ringing in mid-hour. The news: the priest had drowned in the Tisa river that morning. "Kein yovdu kol oivecha Hashem."
The Dream-Appearance After His Petirah. A great chassid named R' Yosef Mehr (who had also traveled to the Ach Pri Tevuah) had a daughter who suffered grave illness and could not safely bear children. The Tal Chaim had promised her she would be helped and would have a ben zachar. The brachah began to be fulfilled — but then the Tal Chaim was niftar, and as the birth approached she fell critically ill. Doctors warned that without immediate operation both mother and child would not survive. She fell asleep — and the Tal Chaim appeared to her in a dream: "Do not fear the doctors. I promised you, and so it will be — you will give birth in peace. But one thing I ask: send those two doctors out of your room." She awoke shouting at the doctors to leave, and shortly thereafter delivered a healthy child without any complication. The entire town spoke of the niflaos — "gedolim tzaddikim bemisasam yoseir mibechayeihem."
The Court-House Fire — Public Stand Against Mixed Schooling. In Liska the male teacher of the government school was once absent for an extended period and asked the female teacher to teach the boys' class together with the girls' class — i.e. mixed boys and girls in one classroom. A Yiddishe father reported this to the Tal Chaim while he was sitting in the beis medrash wrapped in tallis and tefillin. The Tal Chaim immediately removed his tallis and tefillin and ran from the beis medrash directly to the school. His son-in-law R' Aharon Eish of Lupeni — then a young avreich eating kest at his shver's table — ran after him terrified, because the government in those days imposed severe punishment on anyone disturbing a class. The Tal Chaim shouted back to him: "Bimkom sheyesh chilul Hashem, ein cholkin kavod laRav!" — and continued straight into the classroom, shouting at the Yiddishe children "Aroyse fun do!" The female teacher subsequently lodged a complaint against the Liska Rav at the court in Ohel, with exaggerations added. The family was terrified and sought every shtadlan they could find — but no one had connections with the newly-installed judge. The Rebbetzin asked her husband to daven for his own yeshuah. He answered: "Far a Yiddishe zach vel ich zitzen in tefisah — ich hob gornisht moireh." Several weeks later a fire broke out in the court-house, and all written complaints were consumed in the flames. The female teacher waited and waited to be called to testify, but no summons ever came; the case was lost. In shame she fled the town for America.
His Petirah and the Wall-Moving Miracle. Niftar suddenly on יום א' פרשת אמור, ט' אייר תרס"ד (1904), the 24th day of the Omer. At the levayah the chevra approached the ohel of his shver the Ach Pri Tevuah to bury Reb Chaim alongside him — only to discover that there was no room within the ohel. His son Reb Tzvi Hersh went with a minyan to daven at the kever of his grandfather the Ach Pri Tevuah, pleading that since his father had been so beloved to him, room be made for him in the ohel. On the morning of the levayah, witnesses saw that one wall of the ohel had miraculously shifted outward, with the roof unchanged — a clear sign that the Ach Pri Tevuah had made room for his beloved son-in-law. The shifted wall and open roof remained visible until WWII, when the ohel was renovated post-war. To this day one can see how the Tal Chaim lies at the very edge, beside the wall. The first hesped was delivered by R' Avraham Yitzchak Glick zt"l of Tolcsva, baal Be'er Yitzchak.
His Sefarim. The Tal Chaim authored two seforim, both bearing his name:
· Tal Chaim u'Brachah — chiddushim on 165 sugyos throughout Shas. Printed in Premishla in 5658 (1898) through his own efforts.
· Tal Chaim al haTorah u'Moadim — printed posthumously by his son-in-law R' Menachem Mendel zt"l, ABD Borga, in 5669 (1909).
His seforim carry haskamos from the gedolei hador, including Arugas HaBosem, Ahavas Yisrael of Vizhnitz, Darkei Teshuva of Munkacs, Divrei Yechezkel of Shinova, R' Avraham Yitzchak Glick of Tolcsva, R' Yehuda Greenwald of Satmar, R' Mordechai Leib Winkler of Mád (the Levushei Mordechai), and R' Eliezer Deutsch of Bonyhad.
His Children and Sons-in-Law.
· Reb Tzvi Hersh Friedlander הי"ד — the Shaarei HaYosher, third Liska Rebbe, ממלא מקום of his father — murdered al kiddush Hashem in Auschwitz, כ"ז אייר תש"ד (1944) הי"ד.
· R' Yehuda Friedlander, ABD Bukin.
· Son-in-law R' Aharon Eish zt"l, ABD Lupeni — the avreich who ran after him to the school fire incident.
· Son-in-law R' Menachem Mendel zt"l, ABD Borga — who later printed Tal Chaim al haTorah.
Among his eyniklach are the present admorim of Liska and Hibnov.
The Family Connection — The Liska Bond Carried Through R' Ahron Mordechai's Youth. The Tal Chaim's 30-year tenure as Liska Rebbe (1874-1904) means that he was the active Liska Rebbe throughout most of R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman's youth — born 10 Elul 5646 (1886), married Frimet 1905 — and for the entire generation in which our line continued its bond to Liska. Reb Meir Avraham of Liska (Generation 4) had been the direct talmid of the Ach Pri Tevuah; his children, our cousins, and the wider Liska-connected world of Hungarian Orthodoxy continued their connection to the Liska court under the Tal Chaim's leadership. The Satmar Rebbe (Divrei Yoel) told R' Sinai Yehuda Gross zt"l — an eynikel of the Tal Chaim — that he had personally taken shalom from the Tal Chaim. The Kedushas Yom Tov of Sighet had brought his son the young Yoel (later the Satmar Rebbe) — a boy of 17 — to the Tal Chaim, saying: "Yoelishl, kum lomir dir forshtelen — zolst kennen the Liska Rebbe, ober er iz a Rebbe vos iz oych a gaon baTorah."
Lineage & Youth. Born ג' אב תרי"ג (1853), son of R' Tzvi Hirsh of Tlust (Tłuste) — through whom he was a grandson of the Atares Tzvi of Zidichov (his father's mother Raizel was a daughter of the Atares Tzvi), and on his mother Chaya Drazia's side a grandson of R' Shmuel Wilner of Helisz (Halicz). A renowned iluy from childhood, it was said that as a youth in the court of the Divrei Chaim of Sanz he could repeat a difficult pilpul of the Rebbe word for word when no one else present could. He was betrothed at about thirteen and married at about fifteen to a daughter of R' Meshulam Feish HaLevi — the Saraf of Tosh, the first Tosher Rebbe.
His Rebbeim. He was a devoted talmid of the Divrei Chaim of Sanz — who said of him that since his own grandfather the Atares Tzvi of Zidichov there had not been such a mind, and that he was destined to be like him — and he drew as well from R' Yitzchok Aizik of Zidichov, R' Eliezer Tzvi of Komarno, and from the Yetav Lev of Sighet (Máramarossziget), to whom he traveled and who gave him semicha to lead a kehilla. He led his court in the Zidichov style, and most of his Torah was על דרך הקבלה.
His Rabbanus. When his father-in-law the Saraf of Tosh was niftar in תרל"ג (1873) — his brother-in-law R' Elimelech (the future second Tosher Rebbe) being then only a young boy — R' Yehosef, still a young avreich, was appointed at the recommendation of the gedolim to serve as Rav of Tosh (Nyírtass), opening a yeshiva there; he later restored the Tosh seat to his brother-in-law R' Elimelech once he had matured. He then served as Rav of Nyírmada (Mádé) — where his uncompromising kanaus brought him persecution — and afterward built his beis medrash in the great city of Debrecen. In תרנ"ח (1898) he acceded to the entreaties of his chassidim and went up to serve as Rav, Av Beis Din, and Rebbe of Kosson (Kossiv / Mezőkaszony), where he established a yeshiva for bochurim and led a flourishing chassidic court drawing crowds — among them mufla'im, mekubalim, and famous rabbanim — from far and wide.
His Seforim & Legacy. Renowned as a baal mofes who conducted himself in great kedushah and prishus, he left thousands of chiddushim, most lost in the Churban; what survives is his Bnei Shileshim on the Torah, the Moadim, and likutim, together with Yad Yosef and Vayitzbor Yosef. Niftar כ"ג חשון תרע"ב (1911) at age 58, buried in Kosson. His son R' Chaim Shlomo (the Shmuah Tova) succeeded him, and after him his son R' Yisroel Tzvi (the Or Malei), under whom the Kosson chassidus and its yeshiva reached their height — until he was murdered in Auschwitz together with his family and most of his talmidim הי"ד. His sons and grandsons rebuilt the Kosson court after the war, and many descendants serve today as rebbes.
Born 5590 (1830) in Szerdahely (Dunajská Streda), son of R' Yehuda Assad — the Maharyi Assad — and Esther née Regner. Studied under his father and under the Ksav Sofer in Pressburg (Pozsony). Received semichah from R' Shlomo Kluger, R' Shlomo Zalman Ullmann (Yerios Shlomo), and R' Avraham Shag-Tzwibner. Married Yehudis, daughter of R' Lipman Glazer of Nikolsburg — descended from the Baal Avodas HaGershuni.
In 5619 (1859) he was appointed ABD of Kolta as a stand-in for his brother-in-law R' Yona Reichhart. Three years after his father's passing in 5626 (1866), he was appointed ABD of Szerdahely in 5629 (1869) — a position he held for 36 years until his passing on 6 Nissan 5665 (1905). Throughout his tenure he corresponded in Torah with the Ksav Sofer and the Maharam Shick. He published his father's responsa (Yehuda Ya'aleh) with his own notes and glosses — a profound act of filial devotion and Torah continuity. His own writings include: Chiddushei Rashbid Ash Das (Brooklyn 5745); responsa She'elas Shmuel (Bnei Brak 5765); Pirkei Machshava — Ash Das (Bnei Brak 5773); and a commentary on Tehillim published together with his father's commentary as Tehillos Maharyi'a (Bnei Brak 5776). He is buried in the Jewish cemetery of Szerdahely.
Born 11 Shevat 5613 (1853) — eldest son of R' Amram Greenwald, himself one of the leading talmidim of the Ksav Sofer. Studied under the Ksav Sofer in Pressburg (Pozsony) — together with his close friend R' Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld (later Rav of the Edah HaChareidis in Yerushalayim). Though from a non-chassidic family, became a devoted chassid of R' Yehoshua Rokeach of Belz and other Rebbes, adopting full chassidic practice including the shtreimel. Served as ABD of Humenné, then Kleinwardein, and from 1893 as ABD of Chust — succeeding R' Yoel Tzvi Rathe. The Chust succession: Maharam Shick → R' Yoel Tzvi Rathe → Arugas Habosem → R' Dushinsky. His yeshiva became one of the largest in Hungary, attracting talmidim from across the country and even from the United States. His ethical will commanded his sons: "Anyone among you who will be worthy to attain a pulpit — I command him to establish a yeshiva, and nothing must hinder you." Author of the monumental responsa Arugas Habosem. Passed away 7 Av 5670 (1910). His brother R' Eliezer Dovid Greenwald (Keren LeDovid) gave semichah to R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman הי"ד. His son R' Yaakov Yechezkel Greenwald founded the Puppa Chassidic dynasty.
Birth and Lineage. Born 19 Iyar תקפ"ד (1824) in Nadvirna (Nadwórna), Galicia, to Reb Yissachar Dov Berish'l Leifer — the founder of the Nadvorna chassidic dynasty and mechaber of Sisrei Torah. He was the bechor of the family. Through his father he was a great-great-grandson of Reb Meir HaGadol of Premishlan (the first), and great-nephew of Reb Meir'l of Premishlan (the second) — the famed wonder-worker.
The Bris and the Name. Reb Meir'l of Premishlan himself served as sandek at the bris and gave the baby his name. He said he was naming him Mordechai after Reb Mordechai of Kremnitz — but added that inside this Mordechai dwells the neshama of Mordechai HaTzaddik from Megillas Esther, and used to call him Mordechai HaYehudi. Orphaned of his father in 1848 at the age of about 24, he was raised through his early years by his great-uncle Reb Meir'l, whose hashpa'a shaped the young Mordche'le into a tzaddik and manhig.
Marriages and Family. He married Rebbetzin Chaya, daughter of R' Shmuel Shmelka Taubes — Chief Rabbi of Yas (Iași, Romania) and mechaber of To'afos Re'em, son of R' Aharon Moshe Taubes (the Karnei Re'em). After Rebbetzin Chaya was niftar in 1891, he remarried Rebbetzin Frieda, the almanah of R' Gershon of Olinov (Ulanów, Poland).
Beginnings as Rebbe. After his marriage Reb Mordche'le returned to Nadvorna and served as Rebbe alongside his brother Reb Aharon Leib (1819–1897) for a short time. Then he transferred his court to Hungary, where it moved through several stations: Kvyovashed, then Chust (Huszt), and finally — for his last years — Bushtyna (Bustina / Buštino), a small town in the Maramaros region about 12 miles southeast of Chust. From all three places thousands streamed to him from Galicia, Hungary, Romania, and Poland.
"Above Time and Above Intellect." Reb Mordche'le was known for hanhagos that defied the ordinary order of the world — keeping his own time for tefillah, often davening very late at night, and refusing to allow anyone outside his regular minyan to daven with him. The Ahavas Yisrael of Vizhnitz said of him: "Rebbe Mordechai is above time and above intellect" — Rebbe Mordche'le iz hecher fun tzayt un hecher fun seichel. The Bnei Yissaschar's circle in Galicia, the Ruzhiner, and the Divrei Chaim of Sanz all spoke of him with extraordinary reverence while he was still a young man.
The Sukkah Story — A Glimpse of His Mesirus Nefesh. One year in Bushtyna, after an outbreak of disease, the municipality forbade the building of sukkos. Reb Mordche'le built his sukkah anyway, ignored the resulting court summons, and when a gentile official came outraged to demand the sukkah be torn down, the Rebbe told him: "I did not build the sukkah in order to take it down. And since I am the great-nephew of Reb Meir of Premishlan, I am certain you will permit it to stand." The official, cursing the audacity, asked what his great-uncle had to do with him — to which Reb Mordche'le responded with a long-ago story revealing that the official himself owed his very life to Reb Meir'l's tefillos for his mother, whose previous children had all died young. The official paled, asked forgiveness, and the sukkah stood.
His Family Connection — Reb Shayele of Kerestir. The most direct connection to our family's chassidic world: when Reb Shayele of Kerestir hesitated to take up the admorus after the petirah of his rebbe the Tal Chaim of Liska's successor, it was Reb Mordche'le of Nadvorna who instructed him to accept the admorus and lead Kerestir — directly setting in motion the chassidic court that would become one of the great destinations of pilgrimage of the next century, and to which our family was personally bound.
His Family Connection — The Bagad Shochet. A second family-adjacent story: R' Shlomo Yehuda Leib Weinberger — later ABD Bagad and the great-uncle of R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman's mechutan circle — served as shochet u'vodek in Zalisha near Munkacs. So great was his precision in shechita that Reb Mordche'le, relying on him alone, would send his own poultry to him to be inspected despite the considerable distance — a striking testimony to the Bagader's standing from the Nadvorner Rebbe himself.
"A Difficult Kvitl in the Nine Days." Reb Mordche'le was famously known to have said in his lifetime: "A shvere kvitl zol men brengen in di nein teg" — a difficult kvitl should be brought during the Nine Days — and "di shvere kvitlach ken ich poyel'n nor in di nein teg" — the most difficult kvitlach I can only effect during the Nine Days. To this day, on every Bein HaMetzarim, thousands of yidden — including the present-day admorim of Nadvorna, Krechnif, and the broader Nadvorna olam — travel to his ohel in Bushtyna specifically to bring their most difficult petitions, in keeping with the rebbe's promise.
His Sons — The Trunk of Modern Nadvorna. Six sons by his first marriage to Rebbetzin Chaya, each of whom founded an independent chassidic court — making Reb Mordche'le the single trunk from which virtually the entire modern Nadvorna olam grows:
· Reb Yitzchok Leifer — Stanislav-Nadvorna
· Reb Yissachar Dov Berish (Bertzi) Leifer — Satmar-Nadvorna
· Reb Meir Rosenbaum — Krechnif (Kretchnif) — founder of the great Krechnifer dynasty
· Reb Aharon Moshe Leifer — Żołynia-Łańcut (Zhelin)
· Reb Yisroel Yaakov Leifer — Chust-Nadvorna (his designated successor in chassidus)
· Reb Yosef Leifer — Nyíregyháza (Niredhaz)-Nadvorna · niftar 1 Shevat תרס"ב (1902), buried in the Niredhaz beis hachaim — now a stop on this trip planner
and a daughter, Rebbetzin Leah Bina Igra, wife of the Zhelin admor — who was niftar childless. Today close to 100 grand rebbes claim direct descent from Reb Mordche'le of Nadvorna, with courts active from Bnei Brak and Ashdod to Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Williamsburg, and Caracas.
His Petirah. Niftar on the first day of Sukkos — 15 Tishrei תרנ"ה (15 September 1894) — in Bushtyna at age 70. Buried in the Jewish cemetery of Bushtyna, where his ohel stands to this day. The kever draws thousands every year — especially during the Nine Days, on his yahrzeit on first day Sukkos, and throughout the bein hametzarim period.
His Sefarim. His Torah and chiddushim were collected and published by his descendants in several seforim: Maamar Mordechai, Gedulas Mordechai, Tiferes Mordechai, Ohr Mordechai, and Aspaklarya HaMe'ira. Stories of his hanhagos and yeshuos appear throughout the chassidic literature of Galicia, Hungary, and the Maramaros region.
His Kever in Bushtyna Today. The Bushtyna Jewish Cemetery (48°03′ N, 23°29′ E) houses his ohel — recently rebuilt — together with a beautiful new shul, a luxurious hachnasas orchim guesthouse, and a mikvah, all maintained for visitors year-round. GPS address: вулиця Волошина 32-А, Bushtyno, Zakarpatska Oblast, Ukraine 90556. (Already a stop on this trip planner — see the Bushtyna entry under Plan Your Nesia.)
Talmid of the Chasam Sofer — From His Grandson's Pen. In his youth R' Yitzchak Aizik learned in Pressburg in the great yeshiva of the Chasam Sofer זצ"ל. This is established beyond doubt by his grandson Reb Nosson Friedman in the hakdama to the sefer Tiferes Yitzchak itself, where R' Nosson cites and quotes his grandfather's own first-person testimony, preserved in print in Zichron LeMoshe — the volume published in Budapest תרצ"ח (1938) by the gaon R' Yosef HaKohen Schwartz זצ"ל in honor of the Chasam Sofer's hundredth yahrzeit. There, on page 75, in a letter from R' Menachem Mendel Margolios, Rav of Baharinish, R' Yitzchak Aizik is quoted as saying: "What appears as great spiritual awakening, with crying and teshuvah during the Yamim Nora'im in the gatherings of great and holy rabbanim, was experienced even more intensely אצל רבינו הגאון בעל חתם סופר זצ"ל. Twice every week, during the recitation of VeHu Rachum in Tachanun, there was such an atmosphere, and a profound impression of this remained upon his talmidim as well."
The Igros Soferim Omission — And Why. R' Nosson notes in the same hakdama a striking detail. The sefer Igros Soferim contains a detailed list of the Chasam Sofer's talmidim — but its author omitted R' Yitzchak Aizik's name. R' Nosson explains this directly: the author of Igros Soferim had previously served as Rav in Derecske, near Bihar Nagyvárad — close to the area where R' Yitzchak Aizik served as Rav. R' Yitzchak Aizik had sharply criticized aspects of the author's conduct as Rav of Derecske, and in retaliation, the author omitted his name from his list of Chasam Sofer talmidim. "Such a thing should not have been done." — R' Nosson Friedman, hakdama to Tiferes Yitzchak.
His Marriage & Rabbanus. He married the sister of Reb Naftali Herzka of Ratzfert. He served first as ABD Alkan, then as ABD Baiam, and from approximately תר"ם (1880) as ABD Niredhaz (Nyíregyháza) — a position he held for some thirteen-fourteen years until his petirah, and through which he became one of the leading rabbanim of Hungary and one of the great fighters against every breach in the walls of Yiddishkeit.
His Rebbeim in Chassidus. Beyond his early years in Pressburg, R' Yitzchak Aizik traveled frequently to chassidic courts — first to R' Shalom Rokeach of Belz (the Sar Shalom), and after his petirah to his son the Maharash of Belz, with whom he developed a deep and warm personal bond. He was also a chassid of the Divrei Chaim of Sanz and of R' Shlomo Shapira of Munkacs (the Shem Shlomo).
His Sefer. His Torah was preserved in the sefer Tiferes Yitzchak (HebrewBooks #21023), published after his petirah and containing chiddushim across the Torah.
His Petirah & Sons. Niftar in תרנ"ג (1893) — exact yahrzeit date traditionally given as י"ח Shevat (per Mashmia Shalom). His son-in-law R' Shalom Weider — see the Mashmia Shalom tile in Era V — was chosen as his ממלא מקום in the Niredhaz rabbanus. His other sons included R' Moshe Tzvi ABD Neifest and ABD Dombrad, continuing the rabbinic dynasty.
His Kever. Buried in the Niredhaz beis hachaim — alongside Reb Yosef Leifer of Nadvorna (son of Reb Mordche'le of Nadvorna) — making the kever a meeting-point of two distinct streams of pre-war Hungarian Yiddishkeit: the Oberlander Chasam-Sofer line and the Galician-Hungarian Nadvorna chassidus.
Born 1 Teves 5592 (1831) in Ribitsh — son of R' Elazar Shapira of Lancut, himself a son of R' Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov — the Bnei Yissaschar. His mother was Tova Chava, daughter of R' Yehoshua Heshil of Dukla. He married Chaya Fruma, daughter of R' Yekusiel Shmelka of Sassov (son of R' Moshe Leib of Sassov). After his marriage he settled in Stryzow in Galicia, where his father served as Rav.
His Rabbinate. When his father R' Elazar was called to serve as Rav of Lancut in 5618 (1858), the community of Stryzow asked R' Shlomo to fill his father's place — and he served there as Rav. He subsequently served as Rav of Lancut and then of Tarnograd. In approximately 5642 (1882) he was invited by the community of Munkacs (Munkács) to serve as their Rav — the very city where his grandfather the Bnei Yissaschar had previously served — and he remained there until his passing, leading the community for 27 years.
His Admorus. In 5636 (1876) — the year the Divrei Chaim of Tzanz (Nowy Sącz) passed away — R' Shlomo began conducting himself as Rebbe, and thousands streamed to his door. In this way he continued the family dynasty of Munkacs-Dinov.
His Inner World — The Pushka. Every morning before Shacharis, R' Shlomo would put many coins into a R' Meir Baal HaNes pushka, whispering with each coin: "I give this coin so that the Shechina should return to her place with the coming of the righteous redeemer speedily in our days... I give this coin so that His Name should be sanctified..." — a glimpse into the burning messianic longing that animated his entire avodah, and which he transmitted to his son and grandson.
His Tzavaah. He commanded that none of his Torah writings be published, writing: "I did not merit to complete any work worthy of print, and furthermore I have a true reason — therefore it is forbidden to publish." An extraordinary act of humility. His biography was published in the sefer Beis Shlomo by R' Dovid Kahana of Munkacs, and a collection of teachings attributed through his descendants was published as Sefer Padah B'Shalom (Brooklyn, 5753).
His Personal Tefillah. The one exception to his tzavaah: a prayer he composed to be recited in Shemoneh Esrei before Elokai Netzor — a deeply moving prayer of teshuva and viduy — which he not only permitted but explicitly requested to be published. His sons and all subsequent Munkacser Rebbes continued reciting it. It begins: "Yotzri u'Bor'i — You created and formed all the worlds and all that is in them... I acknowledge before You with shame and lowliness of spirit and with a grieving heart that I have sinned and transgressed..."
His Passing. He passed away on 21 Sivan 5653 (1893) in Munkacs and is buried there. His son R' Tzvi Hersh Shapira — the Second Munkacser Rebbe succeeded him. His second son, R' Moshe Yehuda Leib Shapira (the Strizover Rebbe, 1853–1916) — a close talmid of the Divrei Chaim of Sanz, at whose table he sat — served as Rav and Admor in Beitsch (Biecz), Sasov, and Strizov (Strzyżów), and is buried in Munkács beside his father.
Born 11 Tammuz 5610 (1850) in Stryzow, Poland — son of R' Shlomo Shapira, the first Munkacser Rebbe. He was named after R' Tzvi Hersh of Zidichov, whose yahrzeit falls on that day. As a young child of approximately six, he was betrothed to Esther Horowitz, daughter of R' Chanina Horowitz, Rav of Olinow — a son of R' Yaakov of Melitz. The marriage was celebrated in Adar 5625 in Olinow. His primary rebbe was R' Chaim Halberstam of Tzanz — the Divrei Chaim, to whom he traveled from an early age together with his father. The Divrei Chaim held him in exceptional esteem — his son the Minchas Elazar records that when R' Tzvi Hersh was approximately 23 years old, the Divrei Chaim already invited him to lead the zimun of bentsching on Pesach — an extraordinary mark of affection and regard. After the Divrei Chaim's passing he traveled to his son R' Yechezkel Shraga Halberstam of Shinova.
ABD Munkacs. In 5641 (1881) his father R' Shlomo was appointed Rav of Munkacs, and R' Tzvi Hersh began serving as Av Beis Din of the city. After his father's passing in 5653 (1893) he assumed the full rabbinate and Admorus. He was briefly removed by the Hungarian authorities for insufficient knowledge of Hungarian, but continued serving unofficially and was subsequently restored to his position. In 5668 (1908) he established Kollel Munkacs v'Asaras HaGalilot — which channeled funds to Hungarian-born Jews living in Eretz Yisrael, and within whose framework the Batei Munkacs neighborhood in Jerusalem was later established. He fiercely opposed all attempts at innovation in traditional Jewish life, opposed Zionism, and also opposed the nascent Agudas Yisroel movement.
His Passing. He passed away on the second day of Sukkos 5674 (17 October 1913) in Munkacs — and was buried that very day in the Munkacs cemetery. His only son, R' Chaim Elazar Shapira — the Minchas Elazar, succeeded him. That very Shabbos night, returning from the levaya, the Minchas Elazar began conducting his first Shabbos tish as Rebbe.
His Seforim: His most famous work is Darkei Teshuva on Yoreh De'ah — first printed in 5653 (1893), covering shechita, treifos, basar b'chalav, niddah, and mikvaos across seven volumes. It became one of the most important halachic commentaries on Yoreh De'ah, accepted and beloved by rabbis and poskim of his generation. His son the Minchas Elazar completed and continued it. His other seforim: Be'er Lachai Ro'i on Tikkunei Zohar; Shu"t Tzvi Tiferes; Tiferes Banim on Torah and Moadim; Tiferes Banim on the Haggadah.
Stories & Avodah. The depth of his bond with the Divrei Chaim of Sanz is captured in a striking episode (recorded in Bais Shlomo): one Shabbos in Sanz, the Divrei Chaim turned to him and asked why he had not been named after his ancestor R' Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov, the Bnei Yissachar. R' Tzvi Hersh answered that he had been born on 11 Tammuz, the yahrzeit of the Ateres Tzvi of Zhiditchov (R' Tzvi Hirsch Eichenstein), and was named for him. Yet that Shabbos morning the Divrei Chaim asked the very same question twice more — and R' Tzvi Hersh answered each time as though it were the first. To the onlookers it was a wonder; he alone understood that these were lofty matters, not a mere question.
His famed gabbai, R' Chaim Ber Greenfeld, related that one Rosh Hashanah, in the midst of Mussaf and on the way to tekias shofar, R' Tzvi Hersh suddenly cried out "nu, nu!" and would not proceed with the blowing — pointing toward the windows of the beis medrash. When the chassidim searched there, they found, hidden beneath several bekitshes, a Chumash with the commentary of Moshe Mendelssohn. Only once it had been thrown out the window did the Rebbe blow the shofar — the tumah of that sefer had disturbed his avodah.
He composed his kabbalistic work Be'er Lachai Ro'i on the Tikkunei Zohar, by his own testimony, with literal mesirus nefesh; he said that had he not recognized his own handwriting on the page, he would not have believed the work was his own — "and then I will know the purpose of my coming to this world."
R' Chaim Ber Greenfeld also told of accompanying the Rebbe to Berlin, where the Kaiser, Wilhelm, was present. R' Tzvi Hersh's son the Minchas Elazar sought to glimpse the monarch in order to recite the brachah "shenasan mikvodo l'basar vadam"; but R' Tzvi Hersh fled from the sight, saying he could not look upon the face of such a rasha, for he perceived the tumah of Amalek upon him. When the Minchas Elazar reported that he had made the rare brachah, his father answered that he had made asher yatzar over the Kaiser at home.
When R' Chaim Ber's only daughter was niftar after an illness in Vienna, he washed his hands, donned his gartel, took a siddur, and recited "Boruch Dayan HaEmes" aloud — bystanders were astounded at his emunah and strength, until they recalled who his rebbeim were: from his years near the two tzaddikim of Munkács he had absorbed the certainty that kol mah d'avid Rachmana l'tav avid. On another occasion a man brought him a coin to bless for hatzlachah; R' Tzvi Hersh returned it, saying it had already been blessed by another rebbe — and though the man denied it, his wife later confirmed she had indeed first brought it to another rebbe, for "two are stronger than one." He explained that he had once seen his grandfather R' Elazar of Lancut sense the same on a coin, and had davened to merit the like.
Born 5602 (1842) in Tiszafüred, Hungary, to R' Yisrael Yona Tzvi Rosenberg, ABD of Tiszafüred. In his youth he studied and was raised in the home of R' Ephraim of Csaba (Békéscsaba) — who himself had been formed in the tradition of the Ksav Sofer. He also studied directly under the Ksav Sofer himself in Pressburg (Pozsony). In 5629 (1869) he was appointed ABD of Csaba — the very city of the Pri Tzaddik — and in 5644 (1884) he was appointed Rav of Huncovce (Unsdorf) in the Tatra Mountains of Slovakia, where he served for 35 years until his passing.
His yeshiva became the second most significant in Hungary — after only the Pressburg Yeshiva — with hundreds of talmidim arriving from across the country and beyond. He was known both as a supreme posek and as a poel yeshuos. Former talmidim returned to him every Yom Kippur to be in the presence of their master. His Torah thoughts and halachic responsa were published posthumously as Be'er Shmuel. Many additional novellae remained in manuscript.
He was fiercely opposed to the Zionist movement — yet simultaneously supported the practical settlement of Eretz Yisrael, ruling that one should purchase esrogim grown in Eretz Yisrael to strengthen its settlers, over Greek esrogim. His close relationship with R' Akiva Yosef Schlesinger — the noted kabbalist and champion of Eretz Yisrael settlement who lived in Yerushalayim — is reflected in numerous letters he wrote to him, asking R' Akiva Yosef to daven for him and his family in Eretz Yisrael. The correspondence reveals a man who, despite his fierce opposition to political Zionism, held the kedushah of Eretz Yisrael and the power of tefillah there in the highest regard.
His Family. He had two children: his son R' Ephraim Yehuda — a prominent talmid chacham who predeceased him — and a daughter who married R' Yehuda HaLevi Horowitz. His son's engagement had been to a daughter of R' Akiva Yosef Schlesinger — whose father-in-law was R' Hillel Lichtenstein of Kolomea — connecting the Be'er Shmuel to the entire constellation of Hungarian Orthodox leadership. His grandson R' Yosef Tzvi Yona Horowitz continued his path — first in Europe, then founding Yeshiva Be'er Shmuel in Boro Park and Yeshiva Be'er Shmuel in Bnei Brak, and purchasing the land for Kiryat Unsdorf in Yerushalayim. His great-grandson R' Moshe Horowitz continues the tradition today in New York and Yerushalayim.
His Talmidim. Among his prominent talmidim: R' Yehoshua Buxbaum (ABD Galanta (Galánta)); R' Shmuel Dovid Ungar (ABD Nitra — who later led the last yeshiva in occupied Europe); R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman הי"ד (ABD Felegyhaz (Kiskunfélegyháza) — our direct ancestor, Generation 5); R' Shmuel Chaim Deutsch of Munkacs (Munkács); R' Yisrael Teisig of Mattersdorf; R' Moshe Tennenbaum (ABD Mildoy); R' Hillel Weinberger הי"ד (ABD Szerdahely (Dunajská Streda), founder of Yeshivas Beis Hillel).
In a testament to the Be'er Shmuel's influence on his talmidim, two of them — R' Yehoshua Buxbaum and R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman — were each offered passes to leave Hungary and escape the Holocaust. Both refused. Each chose to remain with his yeshiva and kehilla, and both were murdered by the Nazis הי"ד.
He passed away 11 Sivan 5679 (6 June 1919) and is buried in the Jewish cemetery of Huncovce.
Born 14 Shevat 5627 (1867) in Csorna, Hungary — son of R' Amram Greenwald, whose family traced its lineage to the Panim Meiros, the Chacham Tzvi, and the Maharal. The talmid muvhak of his older brother R' Moshe Greenwald — the Arugas Habosem of Chust (Huszt). Known from youth as "HaHarif" — the sharp one. After his marriage he spent 5 years in Bardejov founding a yeshiva there, then served as Dayan and Moreh Tzedek in Szerdahely with ~130 talmidim. In 5667 (1906) elected Rav of Tzehlim; in 5672 (1912) moved to Oberwischau (Vișeu de Sus, Romania) with hundreds of talmidim; in 5681 (1921) appointed Chief Orthodox Rav of Satmar — leading the largest yeshiva in Transylvania (400–500 talmidim). Passed away suddenly 1 Sivan 5688 (1928). When he passed, R' Yoel Teitelbaum (the future Satmar Rebbe) was a contender for his position but was not chosen until 1934. His adopted daughter married R' Yosef Greenwald of Puppa — his talmid muvhak.
His Seforim: Keren LeDovid — responsa on Orach Chaim (172 responsa, Satmar 5689); chiddushei aggadah on Torah (2 vols.); on Moadim; Haggadah with commentary Chasdi Dovid.
Born כ"ג תשרי תרט"ז (1855) in Verecke (Vereczky) in Carpatho-Rus to his father R' Shmuel Weinberger. In his youth he studied under R' Yekusiel Yehuda Teitelbaum — the Yeitev Lev of Sighet (Máramarossziget) (father of the Kedushas Yom Tov, grandfather of the Atzei Chaim, great-grandfather of the Satmar Rebbe), and under R' Yitzchak Aizik Weiss — baal mechaber Beis Yitzchak, ABD Svaliva.
Marriages. He first married the daughter of R' Moshe Ber Landa, the Moreh Tzedek of Verecke and a chassid of Sanz (Nowy Sącz). After her early passing without children, he married in zivug sheini Toiba, daughter of R' Avraham Yitzchak Taub — son of the Brider Admor R' Aharon Tzvi Taub, himself a talmid of R' Tzvi Hersh of Zhiditshov.
The Connection to Rav Herzkele Ratzferter — Our Family. After his marriage R' Shlomo Yehuda Leib served as shochet u'vodek in the village of Zalisha near Munkacs (Munkács). So great was his reputation for precision in shechita that R' Mordechai of Nadvorna — relying on him alone — would send him his own poultry to inspect, despite the considerable distance. After several years he was appointed shochet u'vodek in Téglás. There, Rav Herzkele Ratzferter (R' Naftali Herzka Zilberman of Ratzfert (Újfehértó), maternal grandfather of Rebbetzin Frimet Lieberman) personally directed the townspeople to honor him by calling him up to the Torah with the title "Moreh Moreinu" — a rare public honor extended to a shochet, reflecting Rav Herzkele's deep recognition of his Torah stature and tzidkus.
Rav of Bagad. In תרמ"ח (1888) he was appointed Rav of Bagad (known among the Jews as Bagad), where he would serve for 45 years until his passing.
Sanz–Shinava–Satmar. He was a devoted chassid of the Divrei Chaim of Sanz. After the Divrei Chaim's passing he traveled to the Divrei Chaim's son R' Yechezkel Shraga of Shinava, spending extended periods at his court — and was later named after this rebbe through his own son. After the Shinever's passing he traveled to the Shinever's son R' Moshe of Shinava, who held R' Shlomo Leib in such extraordinary regard that he declared he would consent to be buried in Bagad alongside R' Shlomo Leib rather than next to his own grandfather in Sanz. After R' Moshe of Shinava's passing, R' Shlomo Leib — already advanced in years — traveled to R' Yoel Teitelbaum, the future Satmar Rebbe, although he was approximately thirty years his senior. The Satmar Rebbe later told his grandson that "from R' Shlomo Leib I received everything I received from my rebbes."
His Avodah. He afflicted himself with many sigufim. Among them: he never scratched himself, never leaned back against the back of a chair, and conducted himself in absolute silence on Shabbos — refraining entirely from speech.
His Passing. In his final years he fell ill and was hospitalized in Debrecen, where he passed away on Leil Shabbos Kodesh, ו' חשון תרצ"ג (1932) at age 77, and was buried in Bagad. R' Menachem Brody, ABD Kaliv and R' Yoel Teitelbaum, the Satmar Rebbe were maspid him. He was succeeded as Rav of Bagad by his son R' Yechezkel Shraga Weinberger הי"ד (Rosh Yeshiva of Páie, named after the Shinever Rebbe).
"In that generation people would say there were three leading rabbanim in Hungary" — and he was one of them
Birth & Youth in Yerushalayim. Born in תרי"ז (1857) in Zenta (then Hungary, today Serbia), son of R' Dovid Yehuda Silberstein — the Shvilei Dovid. While he was an infant the family went up to Eretz Yisrael, where they lived some eight years; in Yerushalayim the young Yeshaya learned in Talmud Torah Etz Chaim and was already renowned as an iluy — examined and marveled at by R' Meir Auerbach (the Imrei Binah of Kalisz) and R' Moshe Yehuda Leib Zilberberg of Kutno. Returning to Hungary at about eleven, he absorbed the Yerushalmi-Ashkenaz nusach that he kept for much of his life.
His Rebbeim. He learned by his father, by R' Chaim Sofer — the Machaneh Chaim in Munkács, by R' Avraham Yehuda Schwartz — the Kol Aryeh of Beregszász, and by R' Chaim Tzvi Manheimer of Ungvár (the Ein HaBedolach), from whom he received semicha by about age twenty. Though offered his father's old seat in Terebes, he declined the rabbinate — and instead opened a small cloth shop in Vác that his rebbetzin ran, so that he could sit and learn; it became a gathering place for lomdim, and he taught in his father's yeshiva at his side.
ABD and Rosh Yeshiva of Vác. Upon his father's petirah in תרמ"ד (1884), at age 27, he was appointed Rav of the Orthodox kehilla of Vác (Vaitzen) and Rosh Yeshiva — a post he held for 46 years. Under him the Vác yeshiva became one of the most important in Hungary, with some 200 bachurim, producing a generation of rabbanim and dayanim; among his talmidim was R' Aharon Roth — the Shomer Emunim. Of his halachic stature it was said that many responsa from across Hungary closed with the caveat that the final pesak was conditional on his approbation; the Shevet Sofer and the Kedushas Yom Tov alike held him in the highest regard.
Leader of Hungarian Orthodoxy. He served as spiritual head of the influential Torah journal Tel Talpiyos, published in Vác from 1892 — a central forum for the great communal debates of Hungarian Jewry — and was active each week at the Orthodox Central Bureau in Budapest. A fierce opponent of Zionism and the Mizrachi, he published proclamations against them, though he also signed calls to purchase land and esrogim from Eretz Yisrael. He was renowned for extraordinary hasmadah and shemiras einayim, and for an uncompromising firmness in matters of kedushah. Mechaber of Maasei L'Melech on the Rambam (Seder Kodshim / Hilchos Beis HaBechirah and the Avodah), printed in Vác (1913) and Ungvár (1930), and U'Kesorah HaZos; he left over a thousand manuscript responsa, most lost in the Churban. Niftar כ"ה תמוז תר"ץ (21 July 1930) at age 73; thousands accompanied him and an ohel was built over his kever in Vác. His son R' Dovid Yehuda (Leib) — the Yad Dovid succeeded him as Rav and Rosh Yeshiva, and was murdered in Auschwitz הי"ד.
The "miracle Rebbe of Stropkov" — a living link in the Sanz–Shinova chain whose final years and kever are in Kashau, on the Nesiya Tova kivrei-tzaddikim circuit
Birth & Lineage. Born during the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah of תרי"ז (Tishrei / autumn 1856) — a date long shrouded in uncertainty, but fixed by his תרנ"ג marriage record (matrikel) in Shinova, which gives his birth year as 1856, the year after the petirah of the Sar Shalom of Belz. He was the son, from his father's fourth marriage, of R' Yechezkel Shraga Halberstam of Shinova (Sieniawa) — the Divrei Yechezkel, eldest son of R' Chaim Halberstam of Tzanz — the Divrei Chaim. His mother, the Rebbetzin Chana Rachel, was a niece of the Rebbetzin Malka of Belz (wife of the Sar Shalom) and had earlier been married to R' Sender, a son of R' Elazar Rokeach of Belz — so the child was named Shalom for that same Sar Shalom of Belz. His father so treasured him that he declared of him: "נשמתו קדושה מאד גבוה מעל גבוה ועל ידו יהיו ישועות לבני ישראל" — "his soul is exceedingly holy, exalted above the exalted, and through him will come yeshuos to Klal Yisrael." Late in life he added to himself the name Avraham as a segulah for arichus yamim — though, his grandson the Stropkover Rebbe of Yerushalayim attested, he did not write a new kesubah despite becoming known by the new name.
His Rabbanus. He learned under R' Yisrael Meir Friedman, the Dayan of Tzanz. In תרנ"ח (1898) he was appointed Rav and Rebbe of Stropkov (then Hungary; today Slovakia), succeeding R' Yitzchak Hersh Amsel — and brought his rebbi the Dayan along with him. There his court teemed with thousands of chassidim; he was famed throughout the region as a baal mofeis to whom the learned and simple alike streamed for brachos and counsel. He thus became the first Rebbe of the Stropkov chassidic dynasty, transplanting the avodah of Sanz and Shinova onto Hungarian–Slovakian soil.
War, Exile & Kashau. During the First World War he was driven from Stropkov and took refuge in Budapest. After the war, in תרע"ט (1919), he settled for a time in Ungvár and later returned to Stropkov. In תר"צ (1930) he appointed his son R' Menachem Mendel Halberstam (later mechaber of Divrei Menachem) as the young Rav of Stropkov, and himself moved to Kashau (Košice), where he remained until his petirah — signing his name in his sefarim as "Shalom Halberstam, Kashoy."
His Sefer & Petirah. His Torah was gathered into the sefer Divrei Sholom, by which he is known. A measure of his old age: his youngest son, the famed child-prodigy R' Yosef Yom Tov הי"ד — who astonished all of Hungary and served as a young Rebbe in Kashau — was born to him in ב' Av תרצ"ד (1934), when the Rebbe was nearly eighty. He was niftar on the first day of Shavuos, ו' סיון ת"ש (12 June 1940), and is buried in Kashau (Košice) — his ohel, neglected after the war, has since been rebuilt and his kever is a stop on the Nesiya Tova kivrei-tzaddikim circuit. Most of his family was murdered in the Shoah; his son R' Menachem Mendel survived alone and went on to serve as a Rebbe in the United States, rebuilding the Stropkover beis medrash in Williamsburg. The present Stropkover dynasty in Yerushalayim descends from him.
His Marriages & Children. He married three times. His first wife was Chaya Yehudis, daughter of R' Avraham Chaim Horowitz of Linsk (she was niftar in תרמ"ו / 1886); their children included his successor R' Menachem Mendel (the young Rav of Stropkov, later mechaber of Divrei Menachem), Beila (wife of R' Yissachar Dov Lifshitz, the Rebbe of Ungvár), and Hena (wife of R' Chaim Parnes). His second wife was Gittel, daughter of R' Shmuel HaKohen Weichman; their daughter Chaya married R' Menachem Mendel Horowitz of Linsk (a nephew of his first wife). His third wife was Chaya, daughter of R' Dovid Shlichter, a dayan in Komarna; their son was the child-prodigy R' Yosef Yom Tov. Most of his family was murdered in the Shoah; his son R' Menachem Mendel survived alone and rebuilt the dynasty in America.
The Kashauer Rav — builder of one of the last great yeshivos of Czechoslovakia, whose kever is in Kashau on the Nesiya Tova kivrei-tzaddikim circuit
Birth & Rebbeim. Born כ"ט Shevat תרכ"ה (25 February 1865) in Nitra (Neutra) — so devoted was he to his birthplace that the stamp he used all his life read "שאול בראך מנייטרא." His father was R' Elazar Brach and his mother Liba, a daughter of R' Yaakov Meir Tzvi Friedländer, ABD Shurany — the Derech Yam. As a youth he learned briefly — for some nine months, in Chust (Huszt) — under the Maharam Shick until his rebbe's petirah, and then under the Chasan Sofer (R' Shmuel Ehrenfeld of Mattersdorf), and as a young married man drew close to the Kedushas Yom Tov of Sighet. Already as a young bachur his gaonus and hasmadah were legendary — by a famous tradition he could recite from memory every Rambam cited in the Beis Yosef across all of Hilchos Pesach. He maintained a deep lifelong hiskashrus to Belz, particularly to the Mahari"d.
Rabbinic Career. He served as Av Beis Din in three communities across some five decades. His first post was Magendorf (Veľký Meder), where he stood for about eighteen years; arriving to find shemiras hamitzvos there weakened, he single-handedly restored kashrus, Shabbos, and taharas hamishpacha and persuaded the townsfolk to send their children to Talmud Torah and yeshiva — achieving it, remarkably, without recourse to the "Torah im derech eretz" model. He then served about fourteen years in Nagykároly (Krula; today Carei, Romania). In 1923, after the petirah of R' Yitzchak Tzvi Yungreis, he was elected Chief Rabbi of Kashau (Košice), the great seat of the Kashau kehilla, leading it for the seventeen years until his petirah.
The Kashau Yeshiva. He established and headed the famed Kashau yeshiva, which reached the height of its development under him — some 300 bachurim, recognized by the Czechoslovak government as an institution of higher learning. He also led the Shas and Mishnayos chaburos of the city. Many of the gedolim of Hungary passed through his beis medrash: his foremost talmid R' Rafael Blum (who learned by him for twenty-five zmanim) survived the war and rebuilt the kehilla as the Kashauer Rebbe of Williamsburg; and the future Satmar Rav R' Moshe Teitelbaum (the Berach Moshe) received hora'ah from him. So great was his standing that when he once visited Krula, his former kehilla, the Satmar Rav (R' Yoel Teitelbaum) came out to greet him.
His Sefarim & Kana'us. He was a prolific author, publishing some ten sefarim across halacha and machshava. His drushim on the moadim are gathered in Mishmeres Elazar — named for his father Elazar — alongside Liba Bo'i and Vayiven Shaul on sugyos haShas, the responsa Vayishal Shaul, Shaul Sho'el on Yoreh De'ah, Avos al Banim and Chelek L'Olam Haba on Pirkei Avos, Givas Shaul on Elul, Tov Devarcha on the Haggadah, and many more. He was among the most uncompromising Hungarian kanoim of his day — a fierce opponent of the Zionists, the Mizrachi, and even Agudas Yisrael, and the author of some of the sharpest published attacks against R' Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook. His life and greatness were later recorded by his talmid R' Yisrael Ehrlich in Shaul Bechir Hashem (תשל"ו) and by his grandson R' Naftali Tzvi Brody in the two-volume Gedolas Shaul.
Petirah. He was niftar on כ"ו Shevat ת"ש (5 February 1940) and is buried in Kashau (Košice); his epitaph records that he "ran a yeshiva and raised worthy talmidim from 1892 until 1940." His ohel in the Kashau beis hachaim is a stop on the Nesiya Tova kivrei-tzaddikim circuit.
Born 5 Teves 5632 (1872) in Stryzow, Galicia — son of R' Tzvi Hersh Shapira of Munkacs, himself a great-great-grandson of R' Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov (the Bnei Yissaschar). His mother Esther was a daughter of R' Chanina Horowitz of Olinow, a grandson of the Ropshitzer Rebbe. He was named Elazar after his great-grandfather R' Elazar Shapira of Lancut; the name Chaim was added on the instruction of R' Chaim Halberstam of Tzanz (Nowy Sącz) — the Divrei Chaim — who was his father's rebbe, when the child fell dangerously ill at age three.
His Formation. From age ten he recorded Torah thoughts in a notebook — hearing them from his parents and rebbeim and adding his own chiddushim. He married twice: first to Chaya Chasha daughter of R' Shraga Yair Rabinowitz of Bialobzeg (whom he had been betrothed to since age eight), and after their divorce — she was unable to have children — he married Rachel Pearl, daughter of R' Yaakov Moshe Safrin of Komarno (Komárom). From this second marriage came his only child, Chaya Prima Rivka, whose wedding in 1933 drew thousands of guests from across Europe and America and was filmed by Fox Film Company — an episode that became famous and controversial. His primary rebbeim were his father and R' Yechezkel Shraga Halberstam of Shinova, to whom he and his father traveled every year after the Yomim Tovim.
ABD Munkacs. On the second day of Sukkos 5674 (1913), his father passed away. That very Shabbos night, returning from the levaya, he began conducting a Shabbos tish — Torah, song, and niggunim. Weeks later he was formally appointed Rav of the Munkacs community. In 5682 (1922) he founded Yeshivas Darkei Teshuva — which grew to 280 talmidim, the largest in the city. He led the community for 23 years until his passing.
His Public Battles. He was perhaps the most combative Chassidic leader of interwar Eastern Europe — fighting on multiple fronts simultaneously. He battled fiercely against Agudas Yisroel (accusing them of slow drift toward Zionism and permitting secular studies), against Zionism (calling the Balfour Declaration "tzaras Baal Peor"), against the Belzer Rebbe (who had moved to Munkacs during WWI, leading to violence and police intervention), and against the Spinka (Szaplonca) Rebbe — a conflict resolved in 1926 when the Minchas Elazar paid the Spinka Rebbe 100,000 crowns to leave the city, clearing the way to tighten his control. In 1935 he co-founded Agudas HaChareidim together with R' Ben Zion Halberstam of Bobov הי"ד and R' Yekusiel Yehuda Teitelbaum of Sighet (Máramarossziget) הי"ד — to oppose Agudas Yisroel. That same year he was imprisoned twice, each time for fifteen days. The scholar Aviezer Ravitzky identified him as one of the most important anti-Zionist thinkers of his generation and noted that his theological worldview had a profound influence on R' Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar — the greatest opponent of Zionism to emerge from Charedi Jewry.
The conflict with R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman. The Munkacz dominance over the regional Orthodox communal apparatus was directly challenged when R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman of Bilke (our direct ancestor, Generation 5) — an Oberlander in a region dominated by Munkacz Chassidim — was elected President of the Lishkas HaYire'im in Ungvár, a post the Munkacz faction had expected to control. Many of the Belzer and Spinka chassidim who remained in the region after their rebbes departed gravitated to Reb Ahron Mordechai's leadership rather than to Munkacz. The same year as the 100,000-crown Spinka settlement (1926), the campaign against Reb Ahron Mordechai grew so hostile that stones were thrown into his home on a Friday night, and his family fled across the town's footbridge to safety. Refusing to be the cause of further division in Klal Yisrael, Reb Ahron Mordechai resigned his position in Bilke and relocated to Ricse — and from there, in a remarkable display of principle over personal grievance, issued a fiery public proclamation in support of the Munkaczer Rebbe against the Neologim and "Status Quo" movements, declaring their shechita and rulings forbidden and invoking the Chasam Sofer's "chadash assur min haTorah."
His Messianic Yearning. From World War I — which he viewed as a form of Gog u'Magog — until his death, he was convinced that the Geulah was imminent but delayed by the sins of the generation. This urgency animated his entire public life. In 5690 (1930) he traveled to Eretz Yisrael specifically to meet R' Shlomo Eliezer Alfandari — the Saba Kadisha — believing him to be in some sense the Mashiach. The Saba Kadisha passed away shortly after their meeting. He authored over twenty volumes across all areas of Torah, his most famous being the five-volume responsa Shu"t Minchas Elazar — after which he is universally known.
His Passing. In Kislev 5697 (1936) his health deteriorated sharply. He traveled to Budapest for treatment; approximately 12,000 Jews donated a day of their lives in prayer for his recovery. He passed away at home in Munkacs at 2am on 2 Sivan 5697 (1937), aged 65. He is buried in the Munkacs cemetery ohel. His son-in-law R' Baruch Yehoshua Yerachmiel Rabinowitz succeeded him as Rav and Admor of Munkacs.
Birth & Radin. R' Yisrael Meir HaKohen was born on י"א שבט, about the year ה'תקצ"ח (1838), in the town of Zhetl (Dyatlovo) in Lita. (His exact year is uncertain — his son and others reckoned תקצ"ט/1839, while the Chazon Ish held he lived past a hundred and had hidden his age.) Orphaned of his father in his youth, his mother remarried R' Shimon Epstein of the town of Radin, and there the family settled — Radin giving him the name by which the world would know him. At about seventeen, in the winter of תרט"ו (1857), he married his step-sister Frieda; when his father-in-law's circumstances failed, his rebbetzin opened a small grocery that sustained the household in want, freeing him to give himself to Torah, for he refused all his life to earn from the rabbanus.
The Yeshiva & the Sefarim. In תרכ"ט (1869) he founded in Radin the yeshiva that bore the town's name — Yeshivas Radin — standing at its head and providing for its every need in its early years, later entrusting its leadership to his close talmid R' Naftali Trop. In 1873 he published his first sefer, Chafetz Chaim — a nearly pioneering attempt to gather all the halachos of lashon hara and rechilus into one work and to root a Torah-true manner of speech — and it gave him the name by which he is known. From his pen came many works, above all the Mishnah Berurah on the Shulchan Aruch's Orach Chaim, which became the ruling halachic guide of the Jewish home; and a Kohen all his days, he composed works on the laws of the Beis HaMikdash and its avodah in longing for the geulah.
A Leader of Klal Yisrael. Though he never held a formal rabbanus, the Chofetz Chaim became one of the foremost poskim of the modern age and a leader of the generation. He was influenced by R' Nochumke of Horodna and by R' Yisrael Salanter. He labored with all his strength on behalf of the Jews of Russia, joining with R' Chaim Ozer Grodzinski and gedolim of every camp in calls to the Jews of the world to come to their aid; he was among the founders of Agudas Yisrael, and stood at the head of its Torah leadership. His warnings against those who would uproot the faith were among the sharpest of his day.
His Family & His Petirah. His first rebbetzin Frieda was niftara in תרס"ג (1903); some two years later he married Miriam Frieda, a daughter of R' Hillel of Lapis. Among his children were R' Aryeh Leib HaKohen (Poupko), gaavad of Radin and author of Kisvei Chofetz Chaim; R' Avraham, who helped his father in his works and was niftar young in תרנ"ב (1891); his daughter Sarah, wife of R' Tzvi Hirsh Levinson, his assistant in the Radin yeshiva; and from his second marriage R' Aharon HaKohen Kagan and his daughter Faiga Chaya — mother of R' Hillel Zaks. In his last years he several times made plans to go up to Eretz Yisrael, and a home was even readied for him in Petach Tikva, but it was not to be. He was niftar in Radin at about ninety-four, on כ"ד אלול ה'תרצ"ג (1933), and was buried there, as a multitude came to give their rebbe a last honor.
The Road to Mussar. R' Nosson Tzvi Finkel was born in ה'תר"ט (1849) in Rasein (Raseiniai), Lithuania. Orphaned of his parents at a very young age, he was raised in the home of his uncle in Vilna. He married Gittel Wolpert, a granddaughter of R' Eliezer Gutman, rav of Kelm, and in his early married years sat at his father-in-law's table, where he was already renowned as a prodigy in Torah and an original thinker. He would travel out among the surrounding towns to deliver drashos before the public, and on his wanderings reached his birthplace Rasein; the town's rav, R' Alexander Moshe Lapidos — who was close to the mussar movement — was deeply impressed with the young man and handed him a personal letter to the Alter of Kelm, R' Simcha Zissel Ziv, asking him to take Nosson Tzvi under his wing. Not knowing the letter's contents, he delivered it; and so the Alter of Kelm began to draw him near and guide him in the way of the mussar movement. His own power to influence those around him soon became famous, and many joined the ranks of the movement through him.
Founding Knesses Yisrael of Slabodka. After the mussar Talmud Torah of Kelm closed in תרל"ו (1876), R' Finkel went first with his rebbi to the town of Grobin, and then settled in Slabodka, a suburb of Kovno, where he served as mashgiach in the Ohr HaChaim yeshiva for younger bochurim. From among its graduates he founded, around תרל"ז (1876–1877), the great yeshiva Knesses Yisrael — first as a kollel and then as a full yeshiva, supported by the Ovadiah Lachman fund of Berlin — and led it for some forty-five years. He installed R' Moshe Mordechai Epstein and R' Isser Zalman Meltzer as roshei yeshiva while he himself stood at its center as the mussar and chinuch figure and its spiritual guide. He also took an active part in founding and strengthening a host of other yeshivos — Slutsk, Kobrin, Mir, the Kovno kollel, Telz — so that his talmid R' Elazar Menachem Man Shach would say that the very existence of the yeshivos is in the zechus of the Alter of Slabodka.
The Split & the Second Way. In תרנ"ז (1897) a bitter dispute broke out in Slabodka between the supporters of mussar and its opponents; the Alter declared his withdrawal from the great yeshiva and founded a new one. The older yeshiva took the name Knesses Beis Yitzchak (it endured until the Shoah), while his own was Knesses Yisrael Slabodka; yet despite being ousted from the yeshiva he had built, he bore no grudge toward any of those involved. Between 1903 and 1905 a second war over mussar tore through the yeshiva, sharpened by the unrest of the failed revolution of 1905: former talmidim who had been swept into the ranks of the revolutionaries even threatened R' Nosson Tzvi with murder if he would not leave. It is told that the Alter fixed the ringleader with a sorrowful gaze and said, "See what has become of you…" — and their hands fell from their rebuke, and they left the yeshiva. After the revolt was put down he changed his way: where before he had been exacting, demanding strict discipline and "throwing bitterness" into his talmidim to rouse them to improvement, he now began to act with gentleness, to encourage independence, and to stress the more uplifting ideas of mussar — and it was this second way that became famous as the Slabodka derech.
Gadlus HaAdam. The school of Slabodka drew its spirit from Kelm, but where Kelm was marked by exacting discipline, Slabodka held to a more settled air and stressed the unceasing cultivation of the mind and the soul. Against the way of Novardok — which labored by harsh means to crush the bad middos — Slabodka rejected that path and held instead to refining the human middos through the deepening of self-knowledge. The Alter taught that rather than place before a person his lowliness before the Creator, one must emphasize the loftiness of the human being who was chosen to serve Him and to do His will; this teaching became famous under the name Gadlus HaAdam — that man is the most exalted of creatures, who must therefore carry himself as one who stands before the King. So too Slabodka was known for its insistence on dignified, modern dress, its bochurim recognizable in their light, well-kept clothing.
Aliyah to Eretz Yisrael & His Petirah. In תרפ"ד (1924) Slabodka stood in danger of closure: a Lithuanian law held that a yeshiva which would not teach secular studies would lose its recognition and its talmidim be conscripted. The Alter refused outright, and when some of his talmidim received draft notices he resolved to move those liable for conscription to Eretz Yisrael. He sent the mashgiach R' Avraham Grodzinski to find a place, and the yeshiva was established in Chevron in Iyar תרפ"ד; the following Cheshvan he directed R' Avraham to return to lead the old yeshiva in Slabodka, and went up in his stead. Across תרפ"ה–תרפ"ו most of the talmidim and rabbanim went up, and the yeshiva stood in Chevron until the massacre of תרפ"ט (1929). Soon after his aliyah his son R' Moshe was suddenly niftar; and as the cold of Chevron harmed his health, in early תרפ"ז he moved to Tel Aviv. He was niftar on כ"ט שבט ה'תרפ"ז (1 February 1927) in Yerushalayim, and after a great levaya was buried on Har HaZeisim, in the Chelkas HaNeviim, beside his son R' Moshe.
His Sefer & His Talmidim. His teachings and shmuessen were gathered by his talmidim R' Yitzchak Aizik Sher and R' Avraham Grodzinski into Or HaTzafon, first printed in Kovno in תרפ"ח (1928). Among his sons were R' Moshe Finkel, rosh yeshiva of Knesses Yisrael in Chevron; R' Eliezer Yehuda Finkel, rosh yeshiva of Mir; and R' Avraham Shmuel Finkel; his son-in-law was R' Yitzchak Aizik Sher, rosh yeshiva of Slabodka. His talmidim were a roster of the Lithuanian Torah world — R' Moshe Mordechai Epstein, R' Yechezkel Sarna, R' Isser Zalman Meltzer, R' Aharon Kotler, R' Yaakov Kamenetsky, R' Reuven Grozovsky, R' Yaakov Yitzchak Ruderman, R' Yitzchak Hutner, R' Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg (the Seridei Eish), R' Naftali Trop, and the Mashgiach R' Yerucham Levovitz of Mir.
Birth & the Two Alters. R' Yerucham HaLevi Levovitz was born in ה'תרל"ד (1873) in the town of Lyuban, near Slutsk in the Minsk district of White Russia, to R' Avraham — a melamed of young children in the town — and Chasia Levovitz. At about sixteen he entered the yeshiva of Slabodka. In his earliest years he was in fact among the opponents of the mussar movement; but he drew close to the Alter of Slabodka, R' Nosson Tzvi Finkel, became one of his closest talmidim, and even served as his right hand in the Alter's labors on behalf of mussar. At twenty-two, in תרנ"ז, R' Finkel sent him to learn under the Alter of Kelm, R' Simcha Zissel Ziv — but he merited only a little more than half a year at his feet before the Alter's petirah. He wept a whole night, chiefly over himself, that only now had he begun to learn from him how to live as a true "adam"; and he testified all his life that his understanding flowed from the standing of that one day. In the Talmud Torah of Kelm he afterward learned Shas and Shulchan Aruch b'iyun, from their beginning to their end, over the course of eight years. He was also a talmid of the Alter of Kelm's son-in-law R' Tzvi Hirsch Broide and of the Chofetz Chaim.
The Mashgiach. After his marriage he learned in the Kollel Kodshim in Radin — where he learned alongside R' Elchonon Wasserman and b'chavrusa with R' Naftali Trop, returning home only twice a year, for Pesach and Sukkos — and from תרס"ז (1907) served as mashgiach in the Radin yeshiva, where R' Yechezkel Levenstein learned under him. In תר"ע he left Radin, and eighty select bochurim left with him. From תרע"א he was mashgiach in Mir; afterward he served in Slabodka and other yeshivos, and in תרפ"ג (1923) he returned to Mir together with a chosen group of bochurim from Ponevezh, where he had been. It was in Mir that, across his years there, he gave the yeshiva its distinctive mussar derech and stood at its center as its mashgiach.
The American Talmidim & Daas Torah. In the 1930s many talmidim reached Mir from America, and others from the kehillos of Germany — each a chinuch challenge of its own, calling for a different approach. For these talmidim, in the last two years of his life, he founded a special vaad in which he delivered shiurim on Chumash with Rashi three times a week. Unlike his general shmuessen to the rest of the yeshiva, which dealt with the yesodos of chochmas hamussar, these shiurim were devoted above all to laying down the foundations of Yiddishkeit and emunah; in time they became the basis of the sefarim Daas Torah.
His Derech. His shitah is marked by its emphasis on the individuality of the person. By his teaching, all of Torah and the mitzvos are but the means for a person to arrive at his own self; though one must receive and hear from a rebbe, the essential growth a person can raise only out of himself. He called this innermost point by half-kabbalistic names, such as "the root of the soul that reaches the Kisei HaKavod." From this he held there is no place for envy, since each person is in his essence singular, and a person's true madreigah is revealed only at the point where he stands utterly alone. So too he understood teshuva to be the loftiest madreigah of all — "for it is the madreigah of the person himself, that he returns to his own self," the self being the highest of all the powers within a person. And emunah, in his derech, is no conclusion drawn from proofs but an experience felt by one who has drawn near to the Borei; the path to revealing the self runs through the breaking of one's will and the doing of deeds in actual practice.
His Sefarim & His Talmidim. His teachings were gathered into Daas Chochmah u'Mussar (three volumes, drawn largely from the writings of talmidim) and Daas Torah (six volumes), along with Maamarei HaMashgiach and other collections. His talmidim were a generation of mashgichim and roshei yeshiva who carried his derech across the Torah world — among them R' Yechezkel Levenstein (mashgiach of Mir and later of Ponevezh), R' Chaim Shmulevitz (rosh yeshiva of Mir), R' Shlomo Wolbe, R' Dovid Povarsky (rosh yeshiva of Ponevezh), R' Shmuel Rozovsky, R' Aryeh Leib Malin, and R' Yechiel Michel Feinstein. So great was the awakening he breathed into those who heard him that his talmidim spoke of a techiyas hameisim and called him "Admor," though he taught in a Lithuanian yeshiva; R' Shlomo Wolbe wrote in the introduction to his Alei Shur that R' Yerucham "revived me from actual spiritual death."
His Petirah. In the winter of תרצ"ו the Polish government began to legislate against shechita; R' Yerucham was stricken with grief, and instituted in the yeshiva the saying of Tehillim and Avinu Malkeinu as in the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah, declaring that "such a decree obligates teshuva, and this time is no less than the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah." His heart weakened under the sorrow of it; in the summer he was stricken with meningitis, and he was niftar on י"ח סיון ה'תרצ"ו (1936), at about sixty-one, and was buried in Mir. His last shmuess, delivered on כ"ד Iyar, was on the theme "baal habayis docheik" — on the using of time. After his petirah R' Yechezkel Levenstein was called to fill his place as mashgiach. His rebbetzin Rivka — a relative of the Alter of Kelm, who in the years of his learning b'prishus had supported the household by running an inn in the town of Ozband — was niftara in תש"ח. Among his sons were R' Yisrael הי"ד, rosh yeshiva of Ramailes in Vilna, who perished in the Shoah; R' Simcha Zissel, who founded a yeshiva in America and edited his father's writings; R' Avraham, who fled through Japan to America and became a R"M and rosh yeshiva in Yeshivas Rabbi Chaim Berlin; and R' Moshe Leib; his son-in-law was R' Yisrael Chaim Kaplan.
Telz & Brisk — the Iluy of Boisk. R' Elchonon Bunim Wasserman was born on ו' שבט ה'תרל"ה (1875) in the town of Birz (Birž) in Lita, to his father R' Naftali Wasserman and his mother Sheina Rachel; about the year תר"ן (1890) the family moved to Boisk (Bauska, in Latvia). From there he went to learn in the great yeshiva of Telz, at the feet of R' Eliezer Gordon and R' Shimon Shkop, where he was famed as a hasmadan and a thinker of rare depth — known as "the Iluy of Boisk." On the vacations he spent at home he learned b'chavrusa with the rav of the town, R' Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook; and while still a bochur in Telz he taught himself German from a dictionary and came to know it well. After some years he traveled to Brisk, to learn Torah from R' Chaim Soloveitchik (R' Chaim Brisker).
Radin & the Chofetz Chaim. In תרנ"ט (1899) he married the daughter of R' Meir Atlas, then rav of Salant — through whom he became a brother-in-law of R' Chaim Ozer Grodzinski. In the years תרס"ג–תרס"ד he founded a yeshiva in Amchislav, in Russia; and in תרס"ז (1907) he came to Radin, where he learned in the Chofetz Chaim's Kollel Kodshim and became one of his foremost talmidim. The imprint of his rebbe — the Chofetz Chaim — was stamped upon all his ways; and though R' Elchonon stood before him as a talmid, the Chofetz Chaim held him in wondrous esteem, receiving him whenever he came to Radin and treating him as his ben ne'eman and the man at his right hand.
Brisk & Baranovich. In תר"ע (1910) he accepted the post of rosh yeshiva in Brisk, the town of his rebbi R' Chaim; and in תרפ"א (1921) he took upon himself the leadership of the yeshiva Ohel Torah of Baranovich. Under his hand the yeshiva's renown rose markedly, becoming one of the greatest and most luminous in the Torah world, its influence felt across all of Europe.
Guarding His Speech. A story of his Baranovich years captures his care in shmiras halashon — the very middah of his rebbe the Chofetz Chaim. When hooligans once forced their way into the yeshiva and mocked him as he tried to remove them, R' Elchonon said only three words — "אתם בלי ידיים," "you will be without hands" — and they at once lost the use of their arms. When his talmidim called it a miracle he objected: there was no miracle, he said; when a person guards his speech and keeps "motza sefasecha tishmor," Hashem upholds the words that leave his mouth. Speech, he taught, is like a blade — kept clean it cuts, but let it corrode and it loses its power.
A Leader of the Generation & His Sefarim. He was a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudas Yisrael and among its foremost leaders, and became a symbol of the opposition to Zionism — which he likened in his writings to avodah zarah, and Religious-Zionism to "avodah zarah b'shituf" — holding that every national and political question facing Klal Yisrael must be guided by the Torah and its gedolim. At the Third Knessiah Gedolah of Agudas Yisrael in 1937 he stood among those who opposed the proposal for a Jewish state under the Peel Commission, arguing — together with R' Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky and R' Aharon Kotler — that the future of Klal Yisrael could not be built on foundations divorced from Torah; and he corresponded on matters of the klal with the Chazon Ish and the Rogatchover. In the months before the war he traveled to England, and though many urged him to remain there until the danger had passed, he refused to abandon his yeshiva and returned to his talmidim. His shiurim, set down by his talmidim, became the classic Kovetz Shiurim on Shas (with Divrei Sofrim on the mesorah of the Torah), together with Kovetz He'aros on Yevamos and Shaar Elchonon; and his essays of machshavah were gathered as Kovetz Maamarim and Ikvesa DiMeshicha (1939) — in which, drawing on his rebbe the Chofetz Chaim, he read the upheavals of his generation through Chazal's account of the age before Moshiach.
Al Kiddush Hashem. With the German occupation of Kovno in 1941, as the mass killings began, R' Elchonon gave shiurim on kiddush Hashem and taught his sons and his talmidim the nusach of the bracha to be said at the moment one gives his life. He had sought ways of escape for his family and talmidim — at one point an opportunity arose, but his son R' Naftoli Beinish broke his leg and the delay cost them the chance — and when he was seized he refused to be sent away to a camp in Germany, he who had never feared flesh and blood, saying: "It is easier for me to be buried alive among my people, with my holy and pure brothers — their lot shall be my lot." On Sunday, י"א תמוז ה'תש"א (July 1941), he was seized in the home of R' Avraham Grodzinski, mashgiach of Slabodka — learning at that moment with R' Avraham Yitzchak Zaks — together with twelve other talmidei chachomim, and taken with some three thousand Jews of Kovno to the Seventh Fort; held more than a day in the courtyard without food or water, they were murdered on the night of י"ג תמוז. In his last words he told them that in Heaven they were reckoned tzaddikim, chosen to atone for Klal Yisrael with their bodies; he urged immediate teshuva, and that they guard against any machshavas pigul — for the fire that would consume them, he said, would be the fire from which Klal Yisrael would be rebuilt. הי"ד. Of his sons, R' Naftoli Beinish (an iluy, talmid of Mir and of the Brisker Rav) and R' Yehudah Leib were murdered in 1941; R' Elazar Simcha Wasserman survived, serving as rosh yeshiva in Detroit and Yerushalayim and publishing his father's writings — founding the Ohr Elchonon yeshivos in his memory — and R' Dovid Wasserman lived in Yerushalayim. The Ramat Elchonon neighborhood of Bnei Brak and the Ohr Elchonon yeshiva of Yerushalayim bear his name.
Birth & His Years by the Chasan Sofer. Born on כ"ב אב ה'תרכ"ב (1862) in Nyitra (Neutra / Nitra) to R' Yosef Tzvi and his wife Chaya Sarah (a daughter of R' Moshe Ehrenfeld). In his youth he learned in Mattersdorf as a talmid muvhak of R' Shmuel Ehrenfeld, the Chasan Sofer — recording his rebbe's Torah and clinging to his ways in avodah. From his youth into old age he was given to sigufim and frequent fasting. He married Rochel, daughter of R' Aharon Sheinfeld son of R' Mordechai Sheinfeld, Raavad of Nyitra.
Drawn to Chassidus. After his marriage his soul was drawn to chassidus. He traveled often to R' Yehoshua Rokeach of Belz; after his petirah he became a chassid of his son R' Yissachar Dov of Belz, and later of his son R' Aharon of Belz. He also traveled to R' Yechezkel Shraga Halberstam of Shinova (the Divrei Yechezkel), to R' Dovid of Talna, and to R' Chaim Tzvi Teitelbaum, the Rebbe of Sighet — absorbing their hanhagos and transmitting their Torah to his own talmidim. R' Yehoshua of Belz blessed him that he should merit zikui harabbim, that his words find favor in his listeners' ears, and that his borders increase with worthy talmidim.
Dayan & Rosh Yeshiva of Nyitra. In תרמ"ז (1887) he was appointed dayan and moreh tzedek in his native Nyitra and leader of the Machzikei Torah chabura, which he led in chassidic ways — tishen, hisvaaduyos, and tefillos b'kol — drawing opposition from local Ashkenazim even as he brought simple Jews close to Torah and avodah, and founded a yeshiva for young men. He served Nyitra for some twenty-five years. In תרנ"ז (1897), R' Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld asked him to come stand at the side of R' Shmuel Salant in Yerushalayim and in time succeed him; he put the question to R' Yechezkel of Shinova, who answered: "The people of Yerushalayim will find another rav fit for the task — but in Hungary his absence would be felt and noticed." He remained in Hungary.
Makova — the Court & Yeshivas HaRamah. In ה'תרע"ג (1913) he was appointed Av Beis Din of Makova (Makó), and his son R' Mordechai was chosen to succeed him in Nyitra. In Makova he founded Yeshivas HaRamah on the model of the Hungarian chassidic yeshivos — giving daily shiurim in iyun and halacha, and on Leil Shishi learning Chumash with Rashi, Ramban, and the Ohr HaChaim — and there he established the Makova chassidic court. Over the years he raised thousands of talmidim; among the most prominent was R' Aharon Roth — the Shomer Emunim. He led the Makova kehillah for thirty-two years.
His Tehillim of Tears. He was renowned for his avodah in tehillim: every Erev Shabbos at dawn he would stand at the bimah and say the entire sefer Tehillim together with all the talmidim of the yeshiva, weeping and pleading before his Creator. It was said that every page of his Tehillim was soaked with the tears he shed for each Jew who came before him in his sorrow — "and the gates of tears were not closed." As the terrible reports of the war reached Makova, he multiplied tehillim and zaakos in tefillah for Klal Yisrael, and fixed a daily minyan to say the whole sefer Tehillim each day.
His Petirah & the Bracha Over Makó. When the Nazis entered Makova they laid a false accusation against him; he was arrested and beaten severely. After his release, in the days when the persecution of Hungarian Jewry was at its height, he was sent on the advice of his close ones to a hospital in Budapest. With a heavy and sorrowful heart he parted from his kehillah, taking with him his sefer Tehillim and the notebook of his chiddushim and his tzava'ah. He was niftar in Budapest on י"ז סיון ה'תש"ד (1944) at about eighty-two, and was brought the next day — with great effort, on the eve of the deportations — to be buried in an ohel in the Makó beis hachaim beside his rebbetzin. A week later the Jews of Makó were taken to the camps — yet of the town's transports, the greater part survived, which the chassidim ascribe to his bracha that his kedushah would shield the town. His tzava'ah, printed in his sefer, promises: "Whoever does something for the tikkun of my neshama — even one who is not my talmid, and all the more so my talmid — I assure him that he will not leave this world without complete teshuvah; my name is Moshe ben Chaya Sarah, and my father the tzaddik is Yosef Tzvi."
His Seforim & His Court. His Torah survives in Ohel Moshe — on the Torah, and on Moadim u'Drashos — and in his chiddushim on Shas (Chullin) and on Choshen Mishpat, gathered and published by his descendants. His son R' Zev Tzvi Vorhand served after the war as ABD of Prague, founded the Heichal Moshe beis medrash and kehillah in west Manhattan — known as Rabbi Vorhand's Shul, named for his grandfather — and a Kollel Ohel Moshe in Yerushalayim, and brought the Ohel Moshe seforim to print. His son-in-law R' Moshe Nosson Nota Lemberger succeeded him in the Makova rabbanus, led the kehillah through the Shoah and rebuilt it after, and founded Yeshivas Nachalas Moshe Makova in Kiryat Ata — the Makova court continuing today through his son, the present Makova Rebbe.
R' Yosef Meir Weiss (י"ח אדר תקצ"ח / 1838 – ו' אייר תרס"ט / 1909) was the founder of the Spinka chassidic dynasty in Săpânţa (Spinka), Máramaros. Born in Munkács under Austrian rule to R' Shmuel Tzvi Weiss, ABD of the city, he was recognized as an illui from childhood — known as a baki in Shulchan Aruch by age ten.
He learned under the Maharam Ash in Ungvár, under R' Shmuel Shmelke Klein (the Tzror HaChaim) of Selish in Chust, and under his uncle R' Yitzchak Eizik Weiss of Svalyava. In his youth he traveled to the Sar Shalom of Belz — who called him a "mo'ach yafeh" — to the Tzemach Tzaddik of Vizhnitz, and to R' Yitzchak Eizik of Komarno.
After his second marriage he became deeply attached to R' Yitzchak Eizik Eichenstein of Zidichov, becoming foremost among his talmidim and receiving from him the core of his chassidus. After his rebbe's petirah (9 Sivan תרל"ג / 1873) he was crowned, at the urging of many Zidichov chassidim, as the first Rebbe in Spinka.
He was especially renowned as a master of Kabbalah — it was said that even the Divrei Chaim of Sanz, to whom he traveled after the Zidichover's petirah, consulted him in matters of Kabbalah. Like his rebbe he held to the classical Kabbalah of the Arizal without change. His Torah was recorded in his great work Imrei Yosef, and he published his rebbe's Likutei Mahari"a. He was buried in Spinka; in 5732/1972 his remains were brought to Eretz Yisrael by his grandson and reinterred in the Segula beis hachaim in Petach Tikva. His son the Chakal Yitzchak succeeded him in Spinka.
Born 5635 (1874/1875) in Spinka (Szaplonca), Maramureș, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (today Romania), to R' Yosef Meir Weiss — the Imrei Yosef, founder of the Spinka chassidic dynasty, and his third wife Rebbetzin Perel bas R' Ezra Yaakov Bash. He was his father's only son. His father named him after his rebbi muvhak, R' Yitzchak Eizik Eichenstein of Zhidachov.
Early Years & His Talmud. From a young age he was renowned for his exceptional talents, hasmadah in nigleh and nistar, and impassioned tefillos. As a young man he already corresponded in halacha with gedolei hador including the Maharsham of Berzhan, R' Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor of Kovno, and R' Avraham Palagi, the Mara D'Asra of Izmir. He married Rebbetzin Miriam, daughter of R' Yissachar Berish Eichenstein, ABD Werezki (Vereckei) — one of the Zhidachov rebbes and author of Malbush l'Shabbos v'Yom Tov.
Succession. On Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan 5664 (1903) his father suffered a stroke and was paralyzed for several months; even after partial recovery he functioned only partially, and the young R' Yitzchak Eizik helped him direct the chassidic court. He formally succeeded his father as Rebbe upon the Imrei Yosef's petirah on 6 Iyar 5669 (1909). At that time Spinka was considered the second largest chassidic court in Maramureș, after Vizhnitz.
The Flight to Munkacs (Munkács) & the Yeshiva. On erev Sukkos 5677 (1916), as the Russian army approached Spinka during World War I, the Rebbe and his entire court fled — through several nearby villages and Budapest — and ultimately settled in Munkacs. His father-in-law the Vereczkier Rebbe lived there, as did a substantial group of Spinka chassidim and the Rebbe's relatives — the descendants of his grandfather R' Shmuel Tzvi Weiss who had served as Raavad of the city. There he founded Yeshivas Beis Yosef, which drew approximately 150 bachurim.
The Conflict with Munkacs. A bitter conflict erupted with the local Rav and Rebbe — R' Chaim Elazar Shapira (the Minchas Elazar) — and his close circle. The Chakal Yitzchak eventually agreed to leave the city in exchange for a payment of 100,000 crowns, with the condition that he be permitted to visit his chassidim there twice a year undisturbed. After his Rebbetzin's petirah on Shabbos Kodesh, 8 Tishrei 5690 (1929) — buried in Munkacs — at the demand of the Minchas Elazar he departed Munkacs and on Parshas Vayishlach 5690 settled in Selish (Nagyszőlős), where he transferred his beis medrash and yeshiva, and where he would remain until the war.
His Stature. Under his leadership Spinka grew into one of the three largest chassidic courts in Hungary — alongside Munkacs and Satmar-Sighet (Máramarossziget) — with thousands of chassidim in Maramureș, Transylvania, and throughout the country.
Correspondence with King George V. The Rebbe conducted a brief correspondence with King George V of the United Kingdom. The King sent him a letter during the Rebbe's illness (c. 1929); the Rebbe replied, also requesting royal support for his yeshiva (though this did not materialize). Shortly before the King's death he sent the Rebbe a further letter — but he passed away before a reply could be composed. The Rebbe also once sent a berachah to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who sent him a letter of thanks.
Hiding Polish Refugees. When Carpatho-Rus reverted to Hungarian rule after the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia and anti-Jewish laws were imposed, the Rebbe devoted himself to aiding Jewish refugees fleeing the Shoah in Poland. He ordered a bunker built beneath his home to hide them, and arranged for them to be provided with forged documents. He was once arrested by the Hungarian gendarmerie for two days after a Polish Jew without papers was found in his courtyard — but was released for lack of evidence. His body never fully recovered from what they did to him in prison.
The End. In March 1944 the Germans occupied Hungary. On Issru Chag Pesach 5704 the Jews of Selish and the surrounding region were confined to a ghetto holding some 10,000 souls. The Rebbe refused his chassidim's pleas to escape — even though entry visas to Britain and Eretz Yisrael had been arranged for him. He, his family, and his kehillah were deported to Auschwitz on 1 Sivan, and the Rebbe was murdered there on Sunday, Parshas Behaaloscha, 13 Sivan 5704 (June 4, 1944) הי"ד.
The Bilke Rav & the Royal Rescue Attempt. Of the Rebbe's three children — R' Yisrael Chaim הי"ד (who lived with him in Selish), R' Naftali Tzvi הי"ד (ABD of Bilke in Maramureș), and Rebbetzin Hinda Sheindel הי"ד (wife of R' Avraham Avish Horowitz, ABD Karoly (Nagykároly)) — all three were murdered in the Shoah, along with most of his grandchildren. The Bilke Rav left one daughter who survived; her husband R' Yissachar Dov (Berl) Bergman ע"ה (niftar 16 Sivan 5744 / 1984) later served as President of American Mizrachi. The Chakal Yitzchak had personally participated in their wedding. After the German invasion of Hungary, it was R' Berl Bergman who corresponded with the British Royal Family in a desperate attempt to rescue the Chakal Yitzchak from the gehinnom — זאל אים די זכות ביישטיין.
Continuation After the Shoah. After the war, the elder chassidim crowned his grandson R' Yaakov Yosef Weiss — son of his firstborn R' Yisrael Chaim — as Rebbe of Spinka, continuing the dynasty. His son-in-law's son, R' Shmuel Tzvi Horowitz, served as Spinka Rebbe in Williamsburg, NY. His nephew R' Yosef Meir Kahane (a grandson of the Imrei Yosef) opened a Spinka beis medrash in Yerushalayim. The Chakal Yitzchak also had a full sister, Rebbetzin Alta Chana הי"ד, who in her second marriage was the wife of R' Yaakov Moshe of Komarno (Komárom) זי"ע (in her first marriage she had been the wife of R' Avraham Yakir Rubinstein, an einikel of the Maharsham of Berzhan).
His Sefarim. In his lifetime he published a lengthy hakdamah to his father's Imrei Yosef in which he set forth the derech of Spinka chassidus, and teshuvos under the title Ben Poras Yosef at the end of his father's sefarim. After the Shoah his writings were collected and published under the title Chakal Yitzchak ("the field of Yitzchak" — in Aramaic, whose gematria equals his name "Yitzchak Eizik"): Chakal Yitzchak al HaTorah (two volumes, New York 5712–5714) and Shu"t Chakal Yitzchak, edited by his grandson R' Yaakov Yosef Weiss (New York 5726).
The first Pupa Rebbe — a son of Chust who carried the Greenwald Torah and a Belz heart into one of Hungary's great pre-war yeshivos
Birth & Lineage. Born in תרמ"ב (1882) in Csorna, Hungary, the eldest son of R' Moshe Greenwald — the Arugas HaBosem, the great ABD and Rosh Yeshiva of Chust (Huszt), and grandson of R' Amram Greenwald, a leading talmid of the Ksav Sofer. He learned by his father until his marriage in 1900 to his cousin Sara Rivkah Braun (daughter of the Brezovicaer Rav), and later drew close to the rebbes of Belz, who influenced him deeply.
Rabbinic Career. Appointed Rav of Likov in 1906, he was called in 1912 to Deutschkreutz (Tzelem) as successor to his uncle R' Eliezer David Greenwald — the Keren LeDovid, who had left for Satmar. In 1924 he became Rav of Bánffyhunyad (Hunyad), heading a yeshiva there, and in 5689 (1929) he was appointed Rav of the Etz Chaim kehilla of Pápa (Puppa), the seat with which his name is forever joined.
The Pápa Yeshiva. In Pápa he built a renowned chassidic yeshiva that grew to some 300 bachurim — one of the largest and most important in Hungary — and produced many of the leading roshei yeshiva and rabbanim of the next generation. A talmid of his — by then himself an old man — recalled that when as a fourteen-year-old he ran to fetch the Rebbe a chumash during shiur, the Rebbe gently told him that a talmid chacham may not be served by another, save by a fellow talmid chacham — and the warmth of that recognition, he said, never left him. Steeped in Belz, the Rebbe would send many of his bachurim onward to Belz after their years in Pápa; they would return in their newly-adopted chassidic levush, a striking contrast in the Ashkenazic-dominated town.
His Sefarim & Petirah. He was a prolific author: the Vayaged Yaakov series on the Torah, the responsa Mishpatecha l'Yaakov, Zechus Avos on Pirkei Avos, Agudas Eizov on the Haggadah, and Brocho u'Tehillah on Tehillim. He fell ill on a Thursday and was niftar on Shabbos, ב' אדר תש"א (1 March 1941), at the age of 58. His son R' Yosef Greenwald — the Vayechi Yosef succeeded him and, after his wife and nine of his children were murdered in the Shoah and the Pápa kehilla destroyed, rebuilt the dynasty as the Pupa Rebbe of Williamsburg (Kehilas Yaakov — Puppa).
Born 5638 (1878) in Szerdahely (Dunajská Streda), Hungary, to R' Yitzchak Tzvi Freya and Bashe Reiza — daughter of R' Avraham Shmuel Binyamin Sofer (the Ksav Sofer) of Pressburg (Pozsony). Through his mother he was a great-grandson of the Chasam Sofer.
His Rebbeim. In his bachurim years he learned in Berzova under R' Mordechai Yehuda Leib Winkler (later Rav of Mád, author of Levushei Mordechai) — his rebbi muvhak — and under R' Kalev Feivel Schlesinger, ABD Topoľčany. He then learned under his uncle R' Simcha Bunim Sofer (the Shevet Sofer) in Pressburg, who gave him semichah l'horaah.
Rav of Shoran. In 5663 (1903) he married Mirel, daughter of his uncle R' Yeshaya Ehrenfeld, ABD of Šurany (Shoran, Nagysurány) in western Slovakia. His father-in-law stipulated at the wedding that R' Meir Leib would succeed him in the rabbanus. Just three years later, in 5666 (1906), R' Yeshaya was niftar and R' Meir Leib was appointed Rav and ABD of the city — a position he held for the rest of his life. The Orthodox kehillah had over 600 registered members at that time, including approximately 150 families.
The Yeshiva. Immediately upon his appointment he opened Yeshivas Shoran and personally delivered the shiurim. The reputation of his yeshiva spread across Hungary and within a short time it had 300 bachurim. In 5678 (1918) he constructed a new yeshiva building with a dining hall (manza) — a novelty for the time, when most yeshiva students ate "teg" rotating through the homes of townspeople. To spur his talmidim he periodically held public examinations attended by all the townspeople, inviting gedolei Torah to test them on their learning.
Leader of Hungarian Orthodoxy. He was one of the heads of the Lishkas HaYereim (the Orthodox bureau) together with his friends R' Yehoshua Buxbaum of Galanta (Galánta) and R' Shmuel Dovid Ungar of Nitra — together they directed all the affairs of chareidi Jewry in Hungary. He was one of the leaders of Agudas Yisrael in Slovakia and their representative at the Knessios HaGedolos, in which role he was among the great fighters against Zionism.
His Avodah. Though he served an Ashkenaz kehillah, he conducted himself in darkei haChassidus — toveling in the mikveh daily, conducting tisch on Shabbos and Yom Tov — and traveled to R' Aharon of Belz and to R' Avraham Mordechai Alter of Ger (the Imrei Emes). In 5690 (1930) he built a large mikveh for the city.
How Gedolei HaDor Spoke of Him. R' Shimon Sofer of Erlau (Eger) (the Hisorerus Teshuvah) — his uncle — wrote in his haskamah to Shevet Mishor: "The Rav, the famous tzaddik, like the Arugas HaBosem — sharp and expert in all the chambers of Torah, an ish eshkolos… already famous in the greatness of his Torah and tzidkus, having merited to spread Torah and yiras shamayim in a great yeshiva of hundreds of talmidim." He also said of him that his tefillos make an impression in shamayim and applied to him the words of Chazal: "If the Rav resembles an angel of Hashem Tzva'os, Torah should be sought from his mouth" (Chagigah 15b). The Imrei Emes of Ger told R' Meir Shapira of Lublin to travel to the Rav of Shoran and learn from him the midah of "me'od me'od heveh shfal ruach" (Avos 4:4). R' Aharon of Belz said of his sefer Shevet Mishor: "This is a holy composition."
Shevet Mishor and the Lost Manuscripts. In the middle of the Shoah years, on 7 Adar 5703 (1943), he printed his sefer Shevet Mishor. In his hakdamah he wrote a now-famous reflection on the tekufah: "Since the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash there has been no time of trouble like this for Yaakov… and these tzaros have an additional purpose — to awaken in us the desire and yearning to be redeemed from this exile and to return to Eretz HaKodesh." The remainder of his writings — his chiddushim and shiurim on the entire Shas, his drashos delivered over more than 40 years, and a sefer of teshuvos — were lost in the Shoah.
The Unused Certificate. After enormous efforts he succeeded in 5698 (1938) in obtaining a sertifikat to make aliyah to Eretz Yisrael, long before the skies of Hungary and Czechoslovakia darkened. But his wife Rebbetzin Mirel suddenly fell gravely ill and was niftarah on 1 Cheshvan 5701 (1940). By the time he recovered from his aveilus, he could no longer leave the country.
His End. On כ"ו סיון תש"ד (June 17, 1944) he was murdered in Auschwitz together with his kehillah, three of his sons, and eight grandchildren הי"ד. It is told that admirers managed to bribe a Hungarian official to remove him from the train — but he refused to abandon his kehillah and his family.
His sons included R' Yeshaya, ABD Lemos, murdered in Auschwitz with his father and family; and R' Moshe, ABD Nedyer, murdered in Auschwitz.
Born 5655 (1894) in Nagy-Bánya. His father R' Shmuel Levi Weinberger (5620–5685 / 1860–1924) — son of R' Pinchas ABD Nigrescu, talmid of the Maharyi'atz of Marghita and the Maharam Shick of Chust (Huszt) — had corresponded in halacha as a young man with R' Hillel Lichtenstein of Kolomea, who was so impressed that he gave him his daughter in marriage. Through this marriage, R' Hillel Weinberger became the maternal grandson of R' Hillel Lichtenstein of Kolomea — the fierce defender of Hungarian Orthodoxy and author of Maskil El Dal — and was named after him.
He studied in his father's yeshiva in Szerdahely and received semichah from four of the greatest Hungarian poskim: R' Shmuel Rosenberg of Unsdorf (the Be'er Shmuel — R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman's own rebbe); R' Mordechai Leib Winkler of Mád (the Levushei Mordechai — Rosh Yeshiva of our family's founding city); R' Yitzchak Glick of Toltsova (Tolcsva); and R' Yeshaya Zilberstein of Vác. After his marriage he lived for approximately 11 years in Pressburg (Pozsony), serving as spiritual director of the Yesodei HaTorah institution. He then returned to Szerdahely as Dayan, and upon his father's passing in 5685 (1924), succeeded him as ABD — the fourth consecutive generation to lead Szerdahely, following the Maharyi Assad, R' Ahron Shmuel Assad, and his own father. He founded Yeshivas Beis Hillel — named after his grandfather R' Hillel Lichtenstein — which grew to 100–150 talmidim. In 5696 (1935) a magnificent new building was erected, including a dining hall. Though he davened nusach Ashkenaz, his conduct and dress were chassidic, and he occasionally traveled to the Minchas Elazar of Munkacs (Munkács) for Shabbos. He served Szerdahely for 19 years, until he was murdered in Auschwitz in 5704 (1944) הי"ד. His son R' Yechiel Weinberger founded Kehillas Beis Hillel Szerdahely in Boro Park.
Birth and Family. Born approximately in תקפ"א (1821). His father was Reb Yissachar; little else is known of his family. Some sources record that the family surname was originally Lamm, and that he himself went by Loew, the surname of his mother Rebbetzin Pradel. His mother was the daughter of R' Mordechai Loew — a remarkable young talmid chacham who, despite his short life, merited to engage in pilpul haTorah with the great R' Meshulam Igra. R' Mordechai Loew was niftar at the tragic young age of just 23. Many years later, ABD Aderdam would print part of his grandfather's chiddushim in the sefer Mar Dror, which received haskamos from the Kedushas Yom Tov of Sighet, R' Mendel'e of Dezh, R' Shmuel Frankel ABD Dorog, and R' Mordechai Dov of Hornosteipl. R' Mordechai Loew was himself the son of R' Aryeh Yehuda Loew of Banyhad, mechaber of Pnei Aryeh on Yerushalmi seder Zeraim.
His Upbringing. In his early years he was raised by his great-uncle R' Yisrael Loew, ABD of Darda and Fünfkirchen (Pécs) in Oberland — mechaber of Bais Yehuda V'Yisrael and son of the aforementioned Pnei Aryeh. In his later years R' Yisrael resigned from the rabbanus in Fünfkirchen on account of the winds of Haskalah that had begun to influence the city, and relocated to Grossvardein (Nagyvárad). His emotional drashas pridah — farewell sermon to the people of Fünfkirchen — is printed in his sefer.
His Rebbeim. He learned at the feet of Maran the Ksav Sofer זצ"ל in Pressburg (Pozsony), and of R' Shlomo Zalman Ullman זצ"ל of Makava — the Yerios Shlomo.
His Connection to Sanz. He became deeply attached to the holy Divrei Chaim of Sanz זצ"ל, to whom he was bound bnefesh. He traveled to Sanz on the advice of R' Chaim Yosef Gottlieb, ABD of Stropkov, and with the explicit bracha of his rebbe the Yerios Shlomo, who told him it was a mitzvah to travel to the Divrei Chaim. He also traveled to the holy Shinever Rebbe — the Divrei Chaim's son.
Rav of Aderdam. In תרי"ט (1859) he was chosen to serve as Rav of Aderdam (Anderdam) — a small town adjacent to Nasod (Năsăud) and Bistritz in Transylvania (today part of the municipality of Nasod, Romania), whose population at the time was almost entirely Jewish. There he founded his celebrated yeshiva and built a great kehillah.
His Rabbanus and Communal Role. ABD Aderdam stood among the leading rabbinic personalities of the medinah. He labored in matters both of the klal and of the prat, raising up the keren of Torah and Yiddishkeit, and signed on the formal Orthodox-Neolog split in Hungary. He maintained extensive correspondence with the other gedolim of his generation, and many teshuvos addressed to him are preserved in the published shu"t literature.
His Yeshiva and His Famous Talmid. He was a tofes yeshiva — a great founder and head of yeshiva. Among his most famous talmidim was the holy Rebbe Eliezer Fisch of Bikszad הי"ד, who would later receive smicha from him and rise to become a renowned Hungarian admor murdered al kiddush Hashem in Auschwitz.
His Petirah. He merited seiva tova v'arichus yamim — long life and old age. He was niftar on ח"י שבט תרס"ו (1906), and is buried in the city of Lozhka, adjacent to Aderdam-Nasod.
His Legacy. In תשנ"ג (1993), his grandson R' Aharon Eliezer Deutsch published the sefer Gedulas Mordechai, containing his toldos and letters.
Descendants.
Birth and Lineage. Born in the winter of תר"מ (1880) in the town of Moisei (Mojeii) in the Mármaros region, to his father Reb Moshe Fisch — a descendant of R' Chaim Tzanzer of the Kloyz in Brody and a yichus traced back to the Baal Shem Tov — and to his mother Leah, a descendant of the Shaloh HaKadosh.
His Rebbeim. He learned at the feet of the holy R' Mordechai Yehuda Loew זצ"ל, ABD of Aderdam (Anderdam), from whom he received his semicha. His rebbi was himself a talmid of the Ksav Sofer in Pressburg and of R' Shlomo Zalman Ullmann, the Yerios Shlomo of Makava — both already on this site.
Marriage and the Sighet Yeshiva. He married Leah Avigail, daughter of R' Moshe Ze'ev b"r Yissachar Ber, Rav of Ered-Sinzharitz. (In a second zivug he married Chaya Goldah, daughter of R' Nachum Tzvi.) After his wedding he moved to Sighet (Máramarossziget), where he learned in the yeshiva of the Sigheter Rebbe R' Chananyah Yom Tov Lipa Teitelbaum (the Kedushas Yom Tov) זצ"ל, who became his rebbi muvhak in chassidus. There he learned alongside the Kedushas Yom Tov's two sons — R' Chaim Tzvi Teitelbaum (later the Sigheter Rebbe, mechaber Atzei Chaim) and R' Yoel Teitelbaum (later the Satmar Rebbe), with whom he forged a lifelong personal bond.
His Avodah. He was renowned as a sagfan and a parush — a man of ascetic self-restraint and separation from worldly indulgence. He gave abundantly to tzedakah and was known for his exceptionally lengthy tefillos, accompanied by tears.
Rav and Dayan of Nyírbogát. In תרס"ה (1905) he was appointed Rav and dayan in Nyírbogát (known among the Jews as Bagad), where he established his first yeshiva. He served in this rabbanus alongside the longtime ABD of Bagad, R' Shlomo Yehuda Leib Weinberger זצ"ל — the uncle of Reb Chananyah Yom Tov Lipa Weinberger הי"ד (R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman's son-in-law). The two served the same kehillah in those years.
His Asceticism & the Power of His Brachos. His doorway was perpetually crowded with people who came to seek his bracha and advice. As a result of years of copious fasting, his body was weak and thin, but his mind remained clear and quick. Those who sought his advice left satisfied and at peace after seeing his holy countenance. He had a great love of the Jewish people, and spent much of his time in prayer on behalf of other Jews.
Rav of Bikszad. In תרע"ב (1912) he relocated to Bikszad (Bikszád), where he founded another yeshiva. It was in Bikszád that he began conducting himself as an admor — and from there he took the name by which he would always be known: the Bikszader Rebbe.
Banyabánya & Plasho-bánya. In the interim years between Bikszád and Satmar, he also lived for a three-year period in Bandi-bánya (Bándi-bánya) and for one year in Plasho-bánya.
The Move to Satmar. In תרפ"א (1921) he settled in Satmar (Szatmárnémeti), where he remained until the Holocaust. His name spread far and wide as a baal mofes — a master of wondrous deliverances — and chassidim streamed to his door. All the pidyonos he received from his chassidim he gave away to tzedakah, even though he himself lived in deep poverty. He was treated with great respect wherever he lived, but especially in Satmar where there were many of his chassidim. The Bikszader Rebbe stood above all the factions of the city, and the Satmar Rebbe showed him great love and special friendship. In Satmar he founded yet another yeshiva, which numbered approximately 50 talmidim.
The 1941 Visit to Satmar. A striking incident occurred in Av תש"א (August 1941): the Bikszader Rebbe traveled from Satmar town to the city's central square to daven at the graves of the tzaddikim in the central Satmar cemetery. A crowd of onlookers gathered to watch as he walked into his hotel — a moment so unusual that the photographer Yehuda Fried captured it, and the photograph survives. He was accompanied on the visit by his traveling companion, Myona. His Satmar residence on Békés-Károly Street is also preserved in surviving photographs.
His Mastery of Torah. He was known as a true gaon b'Torah. He knew Shas Bavli, Shas Yerushalmi, the entire Rambam, and the chiddushim of the Maharsha — all by heart. In several locations he established chaburos for the study of Shas and Mishnayos; some of these chaburos completed the entire Shas monthly.
Flight to Cluj and Murder. When the Germans entered Hungary, Reb Eliezer escaped together with his family to Klausenburg (Kolozsvár / Cluj) with the intention of crossing the border into Romania. He did not succeed. He, his rebbetzin Chaya Goldah bas R' Nachum Tzvi, his son R' Chaim Moshe — the dayan of Monoshtor — together with R' Chaim Moshe's wife and three children, were caught and brought to the Klausenburg ghetto. From there they were deported to Auschwitz, where they were murdered al kiddush Hashem on כ' סיון תש"ד (June 11, 1944). The Bikszader Rebbe was 64 years old at his petirah. Hashem yikom damam.
His Sefer. After the Shoah, his son R' Nachum Tzvi Fisch — who survived and succeeded his father as the Bikszader Rebbe in New York — published in תשי"ד (1954) his father's writings that had survived the war as the sefer Shem Eliezer, including chiddushim on Tanach, Pirkei Avos, and drashos for Shabbos and Yom Tov. Appended to the sefer was the kuntres Bnei Moshe — the divrei Torah of his son R' Chaim Moshe, Rav of Mánostor and the surrounding region, who was murdered with his father. The sefer received the haskamah of R' Yoel Teitelbaum (the Satmar Rebbe), in which the deep friendship between them is evident.
Same Day as R' Meir Leib Freya. The Bikszader Rebbe was murdered on כ' סיון תש"ד — the very same yahrzeit as R' Meir Yehuda Leib Freya הי"ד, Rav of Shoran and Rosh Yeshiva of one of the largest yeshivos in Hungary — also murdered in Auschwitz the same day.
Descendants.
Born in 5662 (1902) to his father R' Shlomo Yehuda Leib Weinberger, ABD of Bagad (Nyírbogát) (known among the Jews as Bagad), and his mother Mrs. Toiba (daughter of R' Avraham Yitzchak Taub). He was named after the Shinever Rebbe — R' Yechezkel Shraga Halberstam, his father's rebbe and the son of the Divrei Chaim. He was raised in a home steeped in Torah, Chassidus, and yiras Shamayim — his father was a devoted chassid of Sanz (Nowy Sącz), Shinava, and later the Satmar Rebbe, who said of him that "from R' Shlomo Leib I received everything I received from my rebbes." R' Yechezkel Shraga later married Chaya Drezil, daughter of R' Yehoshua Heshel Landa הי"ד, ABD of Vitka (a small town in eastern Hungary today part of Vásárosnamény) who also served as a Rosh Yeshiva and Admor in Nyíregyháza. Through this marriage he became connected to one of the prominent rabbinic families of the Satmar region.
Páie (Ópályi). In 1925, Reb Yechezkel Shraga was appointed Rav of Páie (Ópályi), a village in the Hungarian section of Satmar County. There he established a yeshiva that, over time, became an important Torah center. He taught with extraordinary devotion and passion. In the mornings he delivered advanced shiurim in Gemara, Rashi, and Tosafos, while in the afternoons he taught Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim and Yoreh Deah. All of his shiurim were delivered standing, with fiery enthusiasm and intense vitality that inspired his talmidim. Twice each week he taught Chumash and Rashi, weaving into the lessons ethical teachings and chassidish insights from the Maor VaShemesh. On Motzaei Shabbos he studied Tanna D'Bei Eliyahu with his older talmidim.
His Yeshiva and Tisch. The yeshiva in Páie was conducted in a deeply chassidish atmosphere, distinguished by the warm and heartfelt relationship between the Rav and his talmidim. With love and patience, he encouraged each talmid to cultivate his unique strengths and took personal interest in their financial conditions and in the wellbeing of their parents. Torah learning filled the beis medrash continuously throughout the day and night. On Shabbos he conducted a tish together with all the yeshiva bochurim. During the meal, selected talmidim would share divrei Torah, after which the Rosh Yeshiva himself would speak. At the end of the seudah, when fruit was served, he would again deliver divrei Torah interwoven with chassidish teachings, particularly from the Sanzer Rebbes. His Melaveh Malkah gatherings with the older talmidim often continued until dawn, during which he captivated them with fascinating stories of tzaddikim and chassidish masters.
His Chassidish Connections. He maintained close ties with the great chassidish courts of his generation and frequently traveled to the courts of Belz, Satmar, and Kaliv, from where he drew spiritual inspiration and renewed strength in avodas Hashem.
A Refuge During the War. At the outbreak of WWII, most of the yeshivos in Hungary were forced to close. Dafka then, the yeshiva in Páie expanded significantly, eventually numbering more than 200 talmidim. Among them were young men who had evaded military conscription or escaped from the Hungarian forced labor battalions (munkatábor). The yeshiva became a spiritual refuge during a time of fear and persecution.
Al Kiddush Hashem. In 1944, after the German occupation of Hungary, Reb Yechezkel Shraga, together with his talmidim and the rest of the Jews of Páie, was deported to the ghetto established in the nearby city of Mátészalka. There, the Nazis ym"sh brutally tortured him, subjecting him to severe suffering. On כ"ח אייר תש"ד, he was deported to Auschwitz, where he was murdered al kiddush Hashem הי"ד. Of his entire family, only his son R' Moshe Dov Weinberger survived. After the war he reestablished the Páya Yeshiva in New York, thereby preserving and continuing the Torah legacy of his father.
His Legacy. Many teachings, stories, and traditions in the name of Reb Yechezkel Shraga Weinberger הי"ד were preserved in the sefer Niflaos Maasecha, authored by his talmid R' Peretz HaLevi Lefkowitz. Through these accounts the memory lives on of a remarkable chassidish Rosh Yeshiva, an oheiv Yisrael, and a master educator who inspired countless talmidim before being murdered al kiddush Hashem in the years of destruction.
Born תרנ"ג (1893) in Ujhel (Sátoraljaújhely). His father, R' Yisrael Ginzler of Ujhel, was a talmid of the Yeitev Lev of Sighet (Máramarossziget); his grandfather was R' Avraham Tzvi Ginzler of Ujhel. His mother Chaya was the daughter of R' Zev Wolf Dürr (a chassid of the Asvar circle, known as "Chassidei Aish v'Or"), after whom he was named.
The Ginzler Family of Ujhel. The Ginzler family was one of the prominent rabbinic families of Ujhel. R' Avraham Tzvi's brothers included R' Yitzchak Eizik Ginzler, R' Moshe Yehuda (Leib) Ginzler of the chevraya of the Yismach Moshe — father of R' Shmuel of Oyber-Vishevo (mechaber Meshiv Nefesh) and father-in-law of the Kol Aryeh — and R' Tzvi Hersh Ginzler of Erdő-Bánya, mechaber Eretz Nachalei Mayim.
His Rebbeim & Early Years. Orphaned of his father on 18 Sivan 5668 (1908) at roughly age fifteen, he learned in Ujhel under R' Dovid Dov Meisels (the Binyan Dovid), ABD Ujhel. He received semicha from R' Shmuel Engel of Radomysl (the Maharash Engel). He traveled to the Minchas Elazar of Munkacs as a chassid, and in his hakdama to Toldos Yisrael he writes of the Minchas Elazar as having passed away "that year" — placing himself unambiguously among the Munkaczer chassidim of his generation.
WWI in the Kerestir Attic. During the First World War R' Zev Wolf hid in Kerestir (Bodrogkeresztúr) on the attic of Reb Shayale's beis medrash together with his lifelong friend the future Oyvarer Rav — another son and talmid of the Binyan Dovid. The two learned there with overwhelming hasmadah, and by the end of those years both knew the entire Shu"t Noda BiYehuda by heart, as well as the Pnei Yehoshua. R' Bentzion Yakobovitch (his talmid, later mechaber Tziyunei Tahara) recorded that his talmidim would often see their rebbe holding a Noda BiYehuda in hand and turning the pages as if reviewing — but actually saying the entire sefer from memory while turning the leaves to mark his place. (Recorded in Zechor Yemos Olam vol. III, ch. 33.)
Marriage. He married Rebbetzin Leah, daughter of R' Asher Lemel Schwartz — head of the Yiddish-speaking kehillah of Mecséd and later Ujhel, a talmid of the Maharam Shick.
Šalgótarján — Dayan and Rosh Yeshiva. In תרפ"ח (1928) he was appointed Dayan u'Moreh Tzedek of Šalgótarján near Budapest, where he established his first yeshiva. He held that position for some ten years.
Fehérgyarmat — ABD & Rosh Yeshiva. In תרצ"ג (1933) he was appointed ABD and Rosh Yeshiva of Fehérgyarmat — succeeding his mechutan R' Asher Anshel Yungreis (whose son R' Yaakov Tzvi Yungreis was R' Zev Wolf's son-in-law, having married his daughter Yutel). The Yungreis dynasty had served as Rabbanim of Fehérgyarmat for generations before him — beginning with R' Shmuel Dovid Yungreis (niftar 1892), then his sons R' Avraham Binyamin and R' Asher Anshel. There R' Zev Wolf led a yeshiva of over one hundred bachurim; a listing in HaMaor records 135 talmidim of his yeshiva, and his own reckoning by 5697 (1937) counted some 2,000 talmidim across his career.
His Hasmadah. He was a masmid atzum mamash; his lips never ceased from learning. Even walking in the street he was heard saying Gemara by heart. The Minchas Elazar, in his Ohs Chaim v'Shalom on Hilchos Milah, cites him twice — referring to him as "my friend, the brilliant and erudite young man Mu"h Zev Wolf Ginzler of Ujhel" — a striking title for a yungerman, indicating the reputation he had already earned in his youth.
His Talmidim. The shu"t Toldos Yisrael contains teshuvos written to many of his talmidim, including: R' Mordechai Goldberger; R' Bentzion Yakobovitch (mechaber Tziyunei Tahara); his nephew R' Yisrael Landa, ABD/R"M Ujhel; R' Yisrael Chaim Sommet of Klausenburg (mechaber Shema Yisrael); R' Yehoshua Goldberger, shochet in Tisza-Bets (after the war: menaker u'magiha for Kehillas Yetev Lev); R' Yitzchak Tzvi Deutsch, ABD Sandra-Detroit; R' Mendel Ber Weinberger, melamed in Williamsburg-Satmar; R' Yudel Klein of Ujhel; R' Moshe Yozefovitch of Ratzfert; and R' Nosson Tzvi Friedman, the Stretener Rebbe zt"l, who received heter horaah from him. R' Chananyah Yom Tov Lipa Weinberger הי"ד — son-in-law of R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman — was also among his talmidim, and received semicha from him in his celebrated "new vessel filled with old wine" letter.
The 1937 Sefer Story. Around 5697 (1937), R' Zev Wolf realized he had no means to make the wedding of his daughter. Counting roughly two thousand talmidim in his career to that point, he resolved to write a sefer al haTorah and finance the wedding through its sale. As he had not kept written chiddushim on Chumash, he simply opened Sefer Bereishis and composed chiddushim afresh in halacha, pilpul, and aggadah; his brother-in-law R' Chaim Tzvi Schwartz wrote them down. By the end of that summer the sefer Toldos Yisrael al HaTorah Bereishis was printed in Kleinwardein.
His Father — Reb Shayale's Gabbai & Badchen. His father R' Yisrael Ginzler had served for many years as gabbai of Reb Shayale of Kerestir — earlier in his life he had been the meshamesh b'kodesh of R' Moshe Yosef of Ihel and was at his rebbe's side when he passed away en route to Békéscsaba. R' Yisrael was also renowned as a badchen at chassunos. After the petirah of R' Zev Wolf's younger brother R' Alexander Zusha in Kerestir on Purim Katan (תרס"ד / 1904), his father R' Yisrael — having no permission for aveilus on Purim — sang at Reb Shayale's tish that very Purim, in badchanus, by way of a Hungarian song about a man who had lost his red kerchief. The kehillah understood the deeper meaning and tears flowed; afterward Reb Shayale said to him: "כ'האב געוואוסט אז דו קענסט גראמען, אבער אז דו קענסט אזוי גוט, האב איך נישט געוואוסט" — "I knew you could make gramen, but that you could do it this well, I did not know."
His Petirah. R' Zev Wolf was deported from the Salka ghetto to Auschwitz, where he was murdered al kiddush Hashem on 15 Sivan 5704 (1944) at age ~51 — together with his rebbetzin and all his descendants הי"ד. Remarkably, his rebbe the Binyan Dovid of Ihel was murdered on the very same day — the Binyan Dovid having been brought from Ihel, R' Zev Wolf from Salka — meeting one another only in the world to come on the day of their kedusha.
His Sefarim. Toldos Yisrael al HaTorah Bereishis — drush u'pilpul al derech rabo the Binyan Dovid (Kleinwardein, 5697 / 1937; reprinted 5741 and 5772). Shu"t Toldos Yisrael — published posthumously by his son-in-law R' Yaakov Tzvi Yungreis from manuscripts, in Brooklyn 5726 (1966). Additional teshuvos appear in Shu"t Mekadshei Hashem (simanim פ"ט, צ', and hosafos siman ד'), and in the monthly HaNesher תש"ג. The reprinted Toldos Yisrael includes an extensive biographical essay on the mechaber.
His Descendants. His daughter Yutel was the wife of R' Yaakov Tzvi Yungreis — Dayan u'Moreh Tzedek in Fehérgyarmat and later ABD of Fábiánháza, who survived the war and published his father-in-law's manuscripts. The Yungreis-Ginzler line continued in Boro Park, where R' Chaim Avraham Nochum Tzin zt"l served as ABD Yarmut until his petirah at age 52 in 2010.
Birth and Family. Born תרנ"ח (1898) in Paks (Pakš), Hungary, to R' Avraham HaLevi Pollack. His paternal grandfather was R' Zekel. From earliest youth he stood out for his hasmadah in Torah, his clarity of mind, and his poetic, ahavas-Yisrael-saturated soul.
His Rebbeim — Three Great Yeshivos. At about age ten he traveled to learn in the yeshiva of his uncle R' Yosef Yehuda Leib Sofer, ABD of Paks — mechaber of Yalkut Sofer on the Torah and Likkutei Sofer on the תרי"ג mitzvos. From Paks he traveled to Tzehlim (Deutschkreutz) to learn in the yeshiva of R' Yaakov Yechezkiya Greenwald — the Vayaged Yaakov — during the years that future Pupa Rav served as Rav and Rosh Yeshiva of Tzehlim. From there he continued to the great Pressburg Yeshiva, learning at the feet of R' Akiva Sofer — the Da'as Sofer. All three of his rebbeim recognized his exceptional kishronos and middos and treasured him.
His Semichos — A Roll-Call of the Hungarian Gedolei HaDor. He received semicha from R' Akiva Sofer (the Da'as Sofer) of Pressburg, from R' Mordechai Leib Winkler — the Levushei Mordechai of Mád, and from additional gedolei zmano. To have semicha from both the Da'as Sofer and the Levushei Mordechai placed him among the most carefully prepared young rabbanim of his generation.
His First Marriage and Mezo-Tshat. In תרע"ז (1917) he married Krassel, daughter of the gaon R' Yehuda Altman, ABD of Mezőcsát (Mezo-Tshat) and mechaber of Shu"t Mei Yehuda. After his marriage he sat on his shver's table in Mezőcsát and began giving regular shiurim b'iyun to the bochurim of the local yeshiva, as well as ongoing kevius with the baalei batim of the kehilla. It was then that his exceptional gift as a darshan and mashgia emerged — every Shabbos he was dores berabim, and for hours he held listeners spellbound with words flowing from the depths of his heart, saturated with yiras shamayim ke-eish bo'eres. Roughly a year later, his rebbetzin Krassel was niftar in childbirth.
His Second Marriage — Becoming Son-in-Law of the Verpelét Rav. In תר"פ (1920) he married Mrs. Slava, daughter of R' Moshe Tannenbaum, ABD of Verpelét — Slava had previously been married to R' Shalom Dov Fischel, ABD of Verpelét, who was niftar at a young age.
Rabbanus of Verpelét — Building a Yeshiva. In תרפ"ב (1922) — roughly two years after his marriage — R' Yosef Asher was elected to fill his father-in-law's place on the rabbanus of Verpelét (ווערפעלעט), one of the older established kehillos of Hungary. There he founded a yeshiva that grew to approximately 100 bachurim. The seder ha-limud was the classical Hungarian model — gemara-Rashi-Tosafos b'derech ha'pshat, special sugyos b'iyun, halacha, and Chumash-Rashi — with weekly shiurim across every track. Every Shabbos he hosted approximately ten talmidim at the seudos Shabbos in his home, despite his own constrained parnassa. As the yeshiva grew, in תרצ"ה (1935) he built a dormitory housing some 40 talmidim at its peak together with a full beis tavshil (kitchen) for the bachurim — and he visited any home of the kehilla he heard was in need, supporting them quietly.
His Style as Rebbe. His talmidim were bound to him as sons to a father. Before every shiur in the yeshiva he learned mussar with the bachurim for roughly a quarter hour, and he gave every shiur standing. He demanded that his talmidim review their lomdus many times and be tested often; but he helped them succeed with everything in his power — inviting groups to his home and personally guiding them in how to learn and how best to chazer. He demanded learning b'chavrusa, and pressed the baalei batim of the kehilla also to learn only b'chavrusa and to set kevi'us times for Torah.
His Talmid — The Future Erlauer Rebbe. Among his talmidim was R' Yochanan Sofer, who learned by R' Yosef Asher in his youth and would later become the Erlauer Rebbe — Rosh Yeshivas Ohel Shimon and presiding member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah, niftar in Yerushalayim in 2016. His talmid R' Shraga Neiman dedicated himself to preserving his rebbe's memory; he founded in Har Nof, Yerushalayim the Bais Hamedrash Shearis Yosef Asher named after his rebbe, which today is led by R' Shraga's son R' Yosef Asher Neiman, named for the murdered Rebbe.
His Love for Eretz Yisrael. R' Yosef Asher's ahavas Eretz Yisrael was legendary. In תרפ"ט (1929) he visited Eretz Yisrael and encouraged aliyah. Yet his opposition to the Zionist movement was equally strong, in line with the prevailing anti-Zionist hashkafa of Hungarian Orthodoxy of his time. During the war years, when he secretly continued the yeshiva learning in a hidden vineyard outside the town, much of what he taught the bachurim was specifically the mitzvos ha'teluyos ba'aretz — to teach them the great value of avodas ha'adamah in Eretz Yisrael.
His Drashos in the Shadow of the Approaching Churban. From ת"ש (1939–40) onward, his drashos increasingly focused on the tzaros of Klal Yisrael. In his Shavuos drasha of 5700 he stirred the kehilla to rejoice as Hashem commanded — v'samachta b'chagecha — despite the bitter gzeiros. In his Shabbos HaGadol drasha of 5702 (1942) he said: "How many of our brothers Bnei Yisrael have not so much as a kezayis matza for the mitzvah — but maror they have!"
His Pastoral Mesirus Nefesh. When many Jews were drafted into the Hungarian labor battalions, R' Yosef Asher — who had learned shechita — personally took over the shechita work for the villages surrounding Verpelét whose shochtim had been conscripted, traveling out to the kefarim to shecht and to be mechazek their ruach — to uplift their spirits.
Continued Yeshiva Under Cover. In תש"ב (1942) the antisemitic Hungarian government ordered the yeshiva closed; R' Yosef Asher was broken by his talmidim being forced to leave. Yet a significant number of his bachurim hid in a vineyard belonging to one of the Yidden of Verpelét, some 8 kilometers from town. Twice a week R' Yosef Asher walked out to them, set them a seder ha-limud, and delivered shiurim — primarily, as noted, in mitzvos ha'teluyos ba'aretz.
His Petirah — Murdered al Kiddush Hashem. In May 1944, after the Nazi occupation of Hungary, the Yidden of Verpelét were taken first to coal mines in the area, then concentrated in a ghetto with Yidden of surrounding villages, where there was severe shortage of food and medicine. On Leil Shavuos 5704, all men 48 and younger were transported to Hatvan and from there to Auschwitz; the remainder were sent on 11 June via Kerecsend and onward to Auschwitz-Birkenau. R' Yosef Asher Pollack was murdered al kiddush Hashem in Auschwitz-Birkenau on כ"ז אייר תש"ד (20 May 1944), at approximately age 46, together with his community הי"ד. His rebbetzin Slava was murdered on כ"ב סיון. He left no surviving children — his talmidim, as he himself said, are his sons.
His Sefer — Shearis Yosef Asher. His chiddushim from a lifetime of teaching were lost and burned in the churban; only fragments survived — udim mutzalim me'eish. His talmidim, organized as the Igud Talmidei Verpelét under the chairmanship of R' Shraga Neiman, gathered what remained — drashos and chiddushei sugyos — and published them as the sefer Shearis Yosef Asher: Derashos v'Chiddushei Sugyos asher Nisharu LiPleitah k'Udim Mutzalim me'Eish (Yerushalayim, תשל"ד / 1974), with a biographical introduction by his talmid Aharon Salzer.
His Kever. R' Yosef Asher has no marked kever — like so many of the kedoshei Hungary, his ashes are at Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland. His yahrzeit is observed on כ"ז אייר. His memory lives on through his sefer, through the Bais HaMedrash Shearis Yosef Asher in Har Nof, and through the legacy of his most distinguished talmid, the Erlauer Rebbe.
Born Chol HaMoed Pesach 5622 (1862) in Tzanz — the sixth and youngest son of R' Chaim Halberstam, the Divrei Chaim, founder of the Sanz (Nowy Sącz) Chassidic dynasty. His father was seventy years old when he was born. Named Shalom after R' Shalom Rokeach of Belz, and Eliezer after R' Eliezer Horowitz of Dzikov — son-in-law of the Ropshitzer. His mother Rechel Devorah was a granddaughter of R' Mordechai Dovid Unger of Dombrava, a prominent talmid of the Chozeh of Lublin. When his father passed away on 25 Nissan 5636 (1876), Shalom Eliezer was only fourteen — one of four young orphans raised by their mother and their brothers who became famous Rebbes. In Elul 5636 he married Sara Miriam, daughter of his brother-in-law R' Mordechai Dov Twersky of Hornisteipl, living at his father-in-law's table for approximately ten years — studying intensively under a prominent talmid chacham who was himself a talmid of the Tzemach Tzedek of Lubavitch. Expelled from Russia as an Austrian citizen, he moved to Galicia near his brother R' Yechezkel of Shinova, then settled in Tarnow — a center of Sanz Chassidus. [Hebrew Wikipedia]
In Ratzfert (Újfehértó). In 5658 (1898) he emigrated to Hungary and settled in Ratzfert (Újfehértó) — already a city with deep roots in the Sanz world, home of our ancestor Rav Herzkele Ratzferter, the devoted Tzanzer chassid and maternal grandfather of Rebbetzin Frimet Lieberman. The Ratzferter Rebbe led his community there for over forty years. All the gedolim and tzaddikim of Hungary showed him great honor. He was known as a poel yeshuos — thousands of Jews streamed to his home from across Hungary and were helped through his brachos and prayers. Every Shabbos he delivered Torah at his table and sat there through the entire night. [Hebrew Wikipedia]
His Family. His son R' Chaim Halberstam served as Rav and Dayan in Satmar. His daughter Sima Bracha married R' Chaim Tzvi Teitelbaum — the Atzei Chaim of Sighet (Máramarossziget) הי"ד — already on this site. His daughter Chaya Fradel married R' Ben Zion Halberstam הי"ד — the Second Bobover Rebbe. In 5689 (1929) he wrote a letter calling for peace and unity in the Satmar community, published in Sefas Emes.
The Letter About Aliyah. In 5699 (1939) — as the clouds of destruction gathered — he wrote urgently to arrange immigration papers to Eretz Yisrael: "For many years my soul has longed to ascend and dwell in Yerushalayim, our holy city... I know with certainty that a great destruction is coming to the world, and I know that in Eretz Yisrael one can bring about salvations." His request was not fulfilled. The Klausenberger Rebbe recorded these words in his sefer Shefa Chaim. [Source: Shefa Chaim; Kol Torah bulletin; Hebrew Wikipedia]
The Esrog Gathering — Sukkos 5704 (1943). In the Sukkos before the deportations, there were no kosher esrogim anywhere in Hungary — except five smuggled into Pest at enormous cost, sent to five Rebbes. One was sent to the Ratzferter Rebbe. A great crowd gathered to make the blessing on his Daled Minim. Among those present: Reb Shayale of Kerestir (Bodrogkeresztúr) הי"ד — already on this site; R' Yekusiel Yehuda Halberstam (the Klausenberger Rebbe, his grand-nephew); R' Yekusiel Yehuda Teitelbaum הי"ד — the Sigheter Rebbe; R' Ahron Teitelbaum הי"ד of Nyírbátor; and other gedolim. The Ratzferter Rebbe said then: "Perhaps it was ordained from Heaven that esrogim be scarce — so that the rabbis would gather together and annul the terrible decree hovering over the remnant of Israel." [Source: Divrei Yissachar Dov; Hebrew Wikipedia]
Al Kiddush Hashem. During the Holocaust he was deported to the Nyíregyháza ghetto, then to the Váriólápas internment camp where he suffered greatly. His Rebbetzin — aged eighty-five — passed away in the Simo-Pusto camp. He was transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and murdered on 16 Sivan 5704 הי"ד.
His Final Moments — witnessed by Yehoshua Rosenblum, a young man forced to work in the Sonderkommando: "One day, while I was working inside the crematorium, an old man, full of days and years, stopped beside me... I understood that this venerable elder was the tzaddik R' Shalom Eliezer of Ratzfert. 'Rebbe,' I said hurriedly, 'say the Viduy quickly... These are the last moments... Quickly!' I helped him put on the Tallis Katan, and then the Rebbe said the Viduy with weeping and great fervor. When he finished — he pressed both my hands and said to me with immense emotion, in words not of this world: 'You, my boy, will merit and be saved. You will remain alive. But I have one request of you — please, remember and tell the entire world what these cursed evil ones did to us… Tell!'" [Source: Testimony of Yehoshua Rosenblum, Sonderkommando survivor — Yalkut Igros Kodesh; Idishe Velt; Hebrew Wikipedia]
His Rebbeim. At age 11 R' Shalom was sent off to learn b'gola — first to Tarkan under R' Menachem Zev Weisberg, then to Bergsas (Berehove) under the Kol Aryeh (R' Avraham Yehuda HaKohen Schwartz), and finally to Sighet (Máramarossziget), where he became a beloved talmid of the Yeitev Lev. The Yeitev Lev so esteemed him that at age 17 he gave him a halachic question that had been brought before him — and instructed him to answer it. The teshuva is printed in Mashmia Shalom (Choshen Mishpat siman 47). After the Yeitev Lev's petirah he attached himself to his son and successor the Kedushas Yom Tov.
The Niredhaz Shidduch. By direction of the Yeitev Lev, R' Shalom married the daughter of R' Yitzchak Aizik Friedman, ABD Niredhaz — the Tiferes Yitzchak, a personal talmid of the Chasam Sofer who had drawn close to the Divrei Chaim and to R' Shlomo Shapira of Munkacs. Esther Bluma, his new Rebbetzin, was a granddaughter of the Niredhaz rabbinic dynasty. After the wedding R' Shalom sat at his father-in-law's table and immersed himself in learning yomam va'lailah.
ABD Niredhaz — Some Fifty Years (1894/1897–1944). When the Tiferes Yitzchak was niftar in תרנ"ד (1894), R' Shalom was chosen as his ממלא מקום in the rabbanus of Niredhaz (Nyíregyháza) and HaGalil. When some opposition arose to challenge the chazakah of his rabbanus, the greatest rabbanim of the era — including the Darkei Teshuvah of Munkacs — wrote to defend him (Shu"t Tzvi Tiferes siman 17). He served as rav and rosh yeshiva of Niredhaz for approximately fifty years, marbitz Torah and raising thousands of talmidim, many of whom became significant talmidei chachamim and anshei maaseh in their own right.
His Rebbeim in Chassidus. Beyond his early rebbeim in Sighet, R' Shalom was close to the great chassidic courts of his era — Shinova, Belz, and especially R' Shlomo Shapira of Munkacs, whose disciple his father-in-law had been. He continued the connection through three generations of the Munkacser dynasty — the Darkei Teshuvah and the Minchas Elazar, who never tired of praising him (and quoted him by name in Shu"t Minchas Elazar II:15).
His Hanhaga. R' Shalom was renowned for fiery, deeply-felt davening, for his uncompromising battle against any breach in tradition or change in Jewish dress, and for his independence from all party politics — under his hand no Jewish political movement ever managed to open a branch in Niredhaz. His drashos roused his listeners to mesirus nefesh for Torah and mitzvos. He answered hundreds of teshuvos for the gedolim of his generation on every area of halacha, and published his chiddushim in the Torah journals of Hungary and Romania. After the rabbinic kinus on the question of pre-shechita stunning, R' Shalom personally drew up the formal psak din that was conveyed to the government.
The Kuntress on Taharas HaMishpacha (1937). So great was the trust placed in him by the gedolei Hungary that in תרצ"ז (1937) they entrusted him with composing the official kuntress on the laws of taharas hamishpacha, to be distributed to chassanim and kallos throughout the country. He wrote it in lashon hakodesh; R' Eli Blum of Hederacin translated it into Hungarian; from there it was rendered into additional languages and distributed in hundreds of thousands of copies across the medinah.
The Final Years and Petirah. On erev Pesach תש"ד (1944) R' Shalom was driven out of his home and into the Niredhaz Ghetto together with his kehilla. The same source describes how — already in the depths of suffering — his spirit was not broken; he spent his final days walking the path of mesirus nefesh together with Reb Shalom Eliezer Halberstam of Ratzfert הי"ד, son of the Divrei Chaim, "speaking words of fiery kedusha in a state that was hod she'b'gvurah". On ט"ז Sivan תש"ד (7 June 1944) his holy neshama rose b'sa'arah ha'shamayma in the gas chambers of Auschwitz — together with the Ratzferter Rebbe — al kiddush Hashem. הי"ד.
Mashmia Shalom — The Sefer. R' Shalom had spent decades writing down his teshuvos, chiddushim and drashos in pinkasim, intending to publish them — but the war prevented it. After the churban, his son R' Shlomo Dov Wieder — who had served alongside his father in Niredhaz, then as rav in the Windsheim DP camp after the war, and later in Cleveland, Montreal, and finally New York — combed through the ruins of the Niredhaz Ghetto and gathered together the surviving fragments of his father's kisvei yad. He labored to mend the torn pages, copy what could still be deciphered, and brought them to America. He published them as Shu"t Mashmia Shalom (New York, תשל"א / 1971) — some 300 large-format pages containing 97 teshuvos across all four chelkei Shulchan Aruch, on every conceivable contemporary question: stock-trading on Shabbos and Pesach, the kashrus of the question of electric light, sterilization of livestock for shechita, sa'm to abort a pregnancy under risk, mesoros for kashrus of various birds, hilchos niddah and mikvaos, the cherem of Rabbeinu Gershom, kiddushin and gerushin among the assimilated, hasagas g'vul in rabbanus, the use of Rebbe Meir Baal HaNeis funds for pidyon shevuyim, and many more. The teshuvos are characterized by clarity of thought, elegance of expression, and penetration to the depths of the matter.
His Descendants. His grandson R' Avraham Shraga Walter zt"l of New York served as a chassidic figure in his own right (niftar Shavuos תשע"ה). Other descendants — including the Walter and Wieder families in Boro Park and beyond — continue his legacy today.
The Kever / Memorial. Although the Niredhaz Rebbetzin's matzeiva (Esther Bluma, his daughter-in-law) stands today in the Niredhaz beis hachaim, R' Shalom himself has no kever — his ashes are with those of Auschwitz. A memorial plaque hangs in the Niredhaz Jewish cemetery in his memory. (Sources: hakdama to Shu"t Mashmia Shalom; Belz "Or HaTzafon" journal; iVelt forum compilation; "Sofrim u'Sefarim — HaMaor" Kislev-Teves תשל"ב; Eleh Ezkerah vol. 5, pp. 170-174; toratcha.wordpress.com.)
A Halberstam scion of the Tzanzer dynasty who married into Sighet and became the senior eidem holding the family together after the Atzei Chaim's petirah b'dmi yamav — murdered with his kehillah, his rebbetzin, and nine of his eleven children
Birth and Halberstam Lineage. Born in 5659 (1899) in Dolyna (today Dolyna, Ukraine — Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast), Galicia, to his father the holy admor R' Yehoshua Halberstam of Dolyna. His Halberstam line traces directly to the Divrei Chaim of Tzanz (Nowy Sącz, Poland):
· Father: R' Yehoshua Halberstam of Dolyna (Ukraine)
· Grandfather: R' Moshe Halberstam of Bardiov (today Bardejov, Slovakia)
· Great-grandfather: R' Boruch Halberstam of Gorlitz (today Gorlice, Poland)
· Great-great-grandfather: the Divrei Chaim of Tzanz (Nowy Sącz, Poland)
He received his primary Torah from his father.
WWI Wandering and the Halmin Chavrusa. The First World War forced him to wander from place to place. Around 5682 (1922), he learned in Halmin (Hungarian: Halmi · today Hălmeu, Romania — Satu Mare County) with his chaver R' Yitzchok Yaakov Weiss, the Minchas Yitzchok — later the famed posek of the Manchester and Yerushalayim Edah HaChareidis Beis Din. Already in his youth Reb Chaim Yitzchok Aizik was known for his bekius, and was called "HaGaon."
His Marriage Into the House of Sighet. He married Rebbetzin Devorah Leah a"h, daughter of the holy admor R' Chaim Tzvi Teitelbaum, the Atzei Chaim of Sighet. Through this marriage Reb Chaim Yitzchok Aizik became the senior eidem of the Atzei Chaim — and the older brother-in-law of R' Yoel Teitelbaum (later the Satmar Rebbe), his shver's youngest son.
· When Rebbetzin Devorah Leah was niftar, he married her sister Rebbetzin Hessa a"h.
· A third sister, Rebbetzin Pesil הי"ד, was the first wife (zivug rishon) of R' Yekusiel Yehuda Halberstam, the Sanz-Klausenberger Rebbe — making the Klausenberger his concuño (her husband, his wife's sister's husband).
· His own wife Devorah Leah was, through her grandmother Sima Bracha (mother of the Atzei Chaim), the great-granddaughter of R' Shalom Eliezer Halberstam, the Ratzferter Rebbe. Husband and wife were therefore both direct descendants of the Divrei Chaim, through different sons — a true Halberstam cousin-marriage binding the Tzanz dynasty together across generations.
Years at His Shver's Tish in Sighet. Following his marriage, he was "samuch" on his shver's tish for several years in Sighet, dedicating himself to limud HaTorah "yomam valaylah" with extraordinary diligence.
ABD Dolyna. Before assuming his second rabbanus, he served as ABD Dolyna (today Dolyna, Ukraine) in Galicia — the very town of his father and grandfather.
Appointed ABD Slatfina — Shabbos Parshas Shemini תרפ"ה (1925). Following the Trianon treaty after WWI, Slatfina (Hungarian: Aknaszlatina · Czech: Slatvina · Yiddish: Slotvina · today Solotvyno, Ukraine — Zakarpattia Oblast) was severed from Sighet (Sighetu Marmației, Romania)'s communal authority — Sighet had gone to Romania while Slatfina remained in Czechoslovakia. The Atzei Chaim could no longer effectively administer Slatfina from across the new border, and a local rav was needed. On Shabbos Parshas Shemini תרפ"ה (1925), in the presence of his shver the Atzei Chaim, Reb Chaim Yitzchok Aizik was crowned as ABD of Slatfina and its entire surrounding region — a position he held for nineteen years until his murder.
The Slatfina Yeshiva — Between 100 and 150 Talmidim. Soon after his appointment he founded a chassidishe yeshiva in Slatfina with between 100 and 150 talmidim. He established a beis tavshil (dining hall) for the bachurim, and funded part of the operating costs from his own personal funds. His talmidim were required to:
· wear chassidic levush
· daven with an avnet (gartel)
· grow beard and peyos
· tovel in the mikveh before Shacharis
Many of his father's Dolyna chassidim, and many of his shver the Atzei Chaim's talmidim, made their way to Slatfina to be under his hashpaah.
Posek and Baal Tefillah. He answered halachic she'eilos and people came to him from distant places for din Torah. On the Yamim Tovim and the Yamim Noraim, many flowed to Slatfina to hear his "kol arev" at the amud during davening.
The Pillar of the Sighet Dynasty. When his shver the Atzei Chaim was niftar b'dmi yamav (in his prime) in תרפ"ו (1926), Reb Chaim Yitzchok Aizik became the central pillar holding the Sighet dynasty together. He personally installed his young brother-in-law R' Yekusiel Yehuda Teitelbaum (the future Beirach Moshe) as Admor and ABD of Sighet, the gadol city of the dynasty. He edited and saw to print his shver's seforim Atzei Chaim on the Torah.
Pesach תש"ד — Deportation and Arrest. In תש"ד (1944), with the German occupation of Hungary, he was driven with the Yidden of Slatfina to the ghetto. He was arrested by a policeman and tortured severely (עונה קשות). After Pesach, the deportations to the gas chambers of Auschwitz began.
"בואו ונקדם את ה' מתוך דברי תורה" — His Final Words on the Train. On א' or ב' סיון תש"ד (May 1944), when Reb Chaim Yitzchok Aizik was loaded with his family and his kehillah onto the cattle car bound for Auschwitz, he asked to be left alone in his corner. He sat in private, chazering his learning b'al peh with extraordinary concentration and hasmadah. After the train crossed out of Slovakia, he broke into tears and said to his talmidim: "בואו ונקדם את ה' מתוך דברי תורה" — "Come let us greet HaKadosh Baruch Hu through divrei Torah." They immediately began to learn hilchos Pesach b'al peh — the same halachos they had learned together in the Slatfina ghetto. הי"ד
His Rebbetzin and Nine of His Eleven Children Murdered with Him. His rebbetzin and nine of his eleven children — ages one through sixteen — were murdered with him at Auschwitz. הי"ד
The Two Sons-in-Law Who Survived. His two surviving sons-in-law established distinguished chassidic courts in America:
· R' Tzvi Hirsh Halberstam — the Rudniker Rebbe of Los Angeles
· R' Yoel Teitelbaum — the Kirlyhazer Rebbe of New York
His Few Surviving Writings. Almost nothing of his Torah survived. What remains:
· Haskamos to Lechem Avirim, Tefilas Mordechai vol. 1, Pardes Mordechai, and Kovetz HaTosafos vol. 1
· Teshuvos in Shu"t Minchas Yitzchok vol. 2 and Shu"t Mekadshei HaShem
· Pieces in the Bobover Kovetz Eitz Chaim, issues 17 and 23
· His Chanukah drashos of 5691-5696 were collected and published in 5761 (2001) as "Oros Chaim — Derushim L'Chanukah". The publisher noted his hope to publish his further drashos on Torah and Moadim and the chiddushei sugyos he taught in the Slatfina yeshiva — but these remain in manuscript or are lost.
Born 24 Shevat 5645 (1885) in Halas, Hungary. Studied under R' Shalom Dovid Ungar of Zvena (father of R' Shmuel Dovid Ungar of Nitra — already on this site) and the Arugas Habosem (R' Moshe Greenwald) of Chust (Huszt). Served as Rav, Rosh Yeshiva, Dayan and Moreh Hora'ah in Pistian (Piestany). Closely connected to the Minchas Elazar of Munkacs (Munkács) and shared his fierce anti-Zionist stance until the Holocaust transformed his worldview entirely.
Em HaBanim Semeichah. Hiding in an attic in Budapest during the Holocaust, he wrote his masterwork on galus, geula, and the obligation to settle Eretz Yisrael — citing hundreds of sources entirely from memory, without access to any seforim. Published in Budapest in 5703 (1943). He later wrote to his son: "To my great sorrow there are those who have not understood the depths of my intention in writing Em HaBanim Semeichah."
Al Kiddush Hashem. Transferred to Sered camp then Auschwitz. Eyewitnesses report he was murdered on 13 Shevat 5705 — by a Ukrainian on a train — while defending another Jew. His last words: "הפיצו את מעיינותי חוּצה" — "Spread my wellsprings outward." הי"ד
His Origins. Born on 11 Tammuz 5635 (1875) — shortly after the passing of his illustrious grandfather, the holy Reb Tzvi Hersh Friedman of Liska זי"ע, author of Ach Pri Tevuah, after whom he was named. His father was the holy gaon Reb Chaim Friedlander זי"ע, the Liska Rav and author of Tal Chaim. Chassidim related that during the final year of the Ach Pri Tevuah, he instructed that the fish head should specifically be eaten whenever fish was brought into the home — hinting through ruach hakodesh that a child of extraordinary brilliance would soon be born, saying: "ער וועט זיין א קארף־קאפ" — that the child would possess an exceptionally sharp and brilliant mind. From his earliest youth, Reb Tzvi Hersh displayed remarkable genius and charif utz. Already as a child he composed profound Torah insights, some of which his father later published in Tal Chaim U'Berachah. He delivered a famous Bar Mitzvah derashah of exceptional depth and brilliance, regarding which he later remarked that he would have delivered it before the greatest gedolei Torah of Lemberg.
His Semichah. At only seventeen years old he received semichah from some of the leading Torah authorities of the generation — among them R' Yitzchak Schmelkes זי"ע (author of Beis Yitzchak), R' Chaim Elazar Shapira זי"ע (author of Darchei Teshuvah of Munkatch), and R' Shraga Tzvi Tannenbaum זי"ע (author of Neta Sorek).
His Rabbinate. He married in Mád, to the daughter of the distinguished chassid R' Yitzchak Isaac ז"ל, a devoted follower of the Tal Chaim. While still a young man he was appointed Dayan in Mád, where he also established a yeshiva. Following the passing of the Rav of Mád, the young Reb Hirsch was considered among the candidates for the rabbinate alongside the famed gaon R' Mordechai Leib Winkler זי"ע, author of Levushei Mordechai — who already appears on this site. Though the elder Levushei Mordechai ultimately assumed the position, the very fact that Reb Hirsch was considered alongside him demonstrated the extraordinary esteem in which he was already held. At twenty-five he became Rav of Gával, and the Levushei Mordechai personally accompanied him there upon his appointment.
Third Liska Rebbe. In 5664 (1904), following the sudden passing of the Tal Chaim, Reb Tzvi Hersh — then only thirty years old — succeeded his father as Rav and Rebbe in Liska, assuming leadership of the historic dynasty founded by the Ach Pri Tevuah. A famous story surrounded that period: when the Tal Chaim passed away, it initially appeared that there was no room within the ohel for his burial. Reb Tzvi Hersh went with a minyan to daven at the kever of the Ach Pri Tevuah, pleading that space be made for his father. The next morning, witnesses saw that one wall of the ohel had miraculously shifted outward, creating room for the burial. Over the following years his reputation spread widely across Hungary. Thousands sought his brachos, guidance, and salvation. He became affectionately known as "Reb Hershele der Tzveiter" — the second Reb Hershele of Liska.
His Greatness in Torah and Nistar. He was a towering gaon in both nigleh and nistar. His father, the Tal Chaim, who was himself a great mekubal, personally taught him Kabbalah. He authored several works in nistar, including a commentary on Pri Etz Chaim, a kabbalistic commentary on Shir HaShirim, and additional writings. His most famous published work was Shaarei HaYosher, through which he became widely known across the Torah world. Despite his extraordinary stature, he was known for remarkable humility and refinement. The Tal Chaim once remarked that his greatness surpassed the position he held, yet he remained utterly self-effacing.
As His Talmid Described Him. R' Shmuel Goldstein ז"ל, who survived the war and later lived in Haifa, described him with extraordinary reverence:
"מען האט גע׳זען אויף זיין פנים אז די שכינה רוהט אויף זיין פנים."
"One could see upon his face that the Shechinah rested there."
He further testified: "ער פלעגט פראווען התבודדות, געציטערט פון ביטול תורה, זיך דערווייטערט פון פאליטיק." — "He would spend time in secluded spiritual reflection, trembled at the thought of bitul Torah, and distanced himself from politics." Yet at the same time he was described simply as "א פאלקס־רבי" — a people's Rebbe — with men and women gathering daily outside his door seeking advice, brachos, and yeshuos. When asked what distinguished a Rav from a Rebbe, he answered in the name of his grandfather: "צו זיין א רב דארף מען מותר זיין אויף עולם הזה. צו זיין א רבי דארף מען מותר זיין אויך אויף עולם הבא" — "To be a Rav, one must forgo this world. To be a Rebbe, one must forgo even the World to Come."
Al Kiddush Hashem. On 27 Iyar 5704 (1944), Reb Tzvi Hersh Friedlander was murdered al kiddush Hashem in Auschwitz. Also murdered al kiddush Hashem were his sons Reb Shimon and Reb Chaim הי"ד. He has no known kever. His memory remains inseparably bound to the holy legacy of Liska.
On 4 June 1920, in the Grand Trianon palace at Versailles, Hungary signed the peace treaty that redrew the map of Central Europe with devastating consequences for its Jewish communities. Hungary lost two-thirds of its pre-war territory and one-third of its ethnic Hungarian population. Communities that had functioned as a coherent religious civilization for generations suddenly found themselves in different countries, separated by new borders, subject to different laws, speaking the language of new majorities.
Despite the upheaval of Trianon, the interwar years were in many ways a period of extraordinary vitality for Orthodox Jewish life in the successor states. Yeshivos rebuilt and flourished. New communal organizations took root. The Agudas Yisrael movement — which sought to unite traditional Jewry under a single political and communal umbrella — became a significant force, particularly in Poland and Galicia, with growing influence in Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
In Hungary, the Orthodox community operated under the umbrella of the National Orthodox Jewish Office (Országos Orthodox Iroda), maintaining its own network of schools, kehillos, and rabbinical courts entirely separate from the Neolog community. The Horthy regime was nationalist and antisemitic in law but generally allowed Jewish communal life to function — until the German influence made itself felt after 1938.
In Carpatho-Rus (under Czechoslovakia until 1939), the Jewish population was among the most traditional in Europe — largely Yiddish-speaking, deeply chassidic, with peyos and bekeshes as standard dress. The great debates of the era — over Zionism, over Agudah vs. Mizrachi, over the language of the Jewish homeland — raged in the batei medrash and the Yiddish press.
The Lishkas HaYire'im — the Orthodox Bureau based in Ungvár — was the organizational center of Carpatho-Rus Orthodoxy during this period. It coordinated the community's legal battles, represented its interests before the Czechoslovak government, and maintained the communal infrastructure. R' Ahron Mordechai Lieberman served as its President — a testament to the stature he had achieved in the region.
One of the defining institutions of interwar Hungarian and Carpatho-Rus Orthodox leadership was the Agudas HaKehillos — the Assembly of Communities — which convened its great rabbinic congresses at Tușnad (Tusnádfürdő / Bad Tusnád), a resort town in Transylvania. These gatherings brought together the gedolei hador of Hungary, Transylvania, and Carpatho-Rus to deliberate on the great questions facing the Orthodox community — shechita legislation, education, relations with the secular government, and the threats posed by assimilation and Zionism. The resolutions passed at Tușnad carried the force of communal law across the region.
Daily frum life in the market towns of Hungary and Carpatho-Rus retained its medieval texture well into the 1930s. The week revolved around Shabbos — the shuttered shops on Friday afternoon, the candles in every window, the rebbe's tisch on Friday night. The shochet, the melamed, the shammes, the dayan — each role in the kehilla was filled by someone whose family had served in that position for generations. The Yiddish language was the vernacular of the home and the beis medrash; Hungarian or Slovak or Ukrainian was the language of the marketplace.
The world began to close in from 1938. In rapid succession, the legislative, political, and ultimately physical annihilation of Hungarian and Carpatho-Rus Jewry unfolded:
In Eternal Memory — The Holocaust
In the January 1941 census — the last national census before the German occupation — 975 Jews lived in Felegyhaz, approximately 2% of the population. Most were engaged in agricultural trade. The city had two Jewish communities — Neolog and Orthodox — each with its own elementary school; the Orthodox community also maintained a Talmud Torah. By the second week of April 1944, the Orthodox community numbered 517 souls and the Neolog community 459 souls.
Persecution began long before 1944. During the post-WWI "White Terror," one Jew from Felegyhaz was murdered and several wounded. In summer 1941, Hungarian authorities expelled several Jewish families who could not prove Hungarian citizenship to a German-occupied area of Ukraine — they were murdered at Kamenets-Podolsk on 27–28 August 1941. From 1942, many Jewish men were conscripted into forced labor battalions deployed on the Eastern Front in Ukraine, where most perished. On 8 May 1944, 304 Jewish men aged 16 and over were transferred to the detention camp at Sárvár.
On 19 March 1944, German forces occupied Hungary. The Sztójay quisling government was sworn in, and a cascade of anti-Jewish decrees followed. Jewish lawyers were disbarred — 11 from Felegyhaz alone on 5 April. From 5 April, every person classified as Jewish was required to wear a yellow star. Two women — Hoffmann Margit and Erlich Andorné Spitzer René — refused and were sentenced to 15 and 30 days' imprisonment. In April, all 71 Jewish-owned businesses in the city were sealed and confiscated.
The ghetto was established in the city's Bercsényi Street — the very street where both the Orthodox and Neolog synagogues stood, and where most of the Jewish population already lived. The designated area encompassed Bercsényi Street, the Rákóczi Street side facing it, and houses on Deák Ferenc and Andrássy Streets with exits onto Bercsényi.
On 12 May 1944, Dr. László Endre — the rabidly antisemitic Deputy Lord Lieutenant of the county — ordered ghettos established throughout his district. The Felegyhaz ghetto was established in the city center, along streets near the municipal building, close to the Orthodox synagogue. On 17 May 1944, before the Jews entered the ghetto, Mayor Dr. Károly Pálos appointed the Jewish Council on the recommendation of the two community presidents — Dezső Léderer (Neolog) and Ignác Prezent (Orthodox). Order within the ghetto was maintained by Jewish police.
107 non-Jewish families were relocated to make room; in their place, 230 Jewish families — 985 people in total — were moved in, beginning at 5 a.m. on 22 May 1944. The area was boarded up on all sides, with a single entrance from Kossuth Street. The walls were constructed by the Jews themselves. Outside, gendarmes from Kiskunhalas — brought in deliberately so they would have no prior acquaintance with the residents — guarded the perimeter under the command of the notorious Márton Zöldi, who was observed at all times carrying a whip, which he cracked constantly.
Inside, conditions were desperate. Two or three families crowded into a single room. At night, hooligans smashed windows, shouted antisemitic slurs, and painted swastikas on the walls. No medical supplies were provided. One couple reportedly took poison and died within the ghetto. The ghetto also maintained a makeshift hospital in one apartment, tended by two Jewish nurses. Every radio had been confiscated, yet some residents risked listening clandestinely to English-language broadcasts. At one point, the ghetto boundary was moved inward overnight without warning, forcing families to relocate again in the dark — leaving the Orthodox synagogue outside the perimeter.
Amid the horror, small acts of humanity persisted. A local woman, Csenki Ferencné, hid an elderly Jewish couple overnight before they voluntarily returned. A photographer named Gettler Sándorné arranged for a double-bottomed crate to be brought to her daily, concealing dairy products and other food beneath the official contents. Three nuns — Klarencia, Blandina, and Emma — cooked large pots of soup every day or two and pushed them on a small cart to the ghetto wall, removing a plank on the Rákóczi Street side to ladle the soup through to those inside. No one reprimanded them, though it was against the rules.
On the morning of 15 June 1944, trucks arrived. Those who could not walk — the elderly and infirm — were loaded onto the vehicles. The rest were marched on foot down Kossuth Street toward the railway station, amid weeping and wailing. Anyone who resisted was beaten with rubber clubs. The city's population had gathered on the main street; they were warned that anyone who approached or showed sympathy would themselves be taken away. Most watched from the opposite pavement. Some survivors later recalled that a small number spat at the marchers and hurled insults; the majority, however, showed sympathy.
On that morning, Márton Zöldi launched a savage public attack on Reb Ahron Mordechai Lieberman, the Chief Rabbi — beating him repeatedly and tearing out his beard. Multiple eyewitnesses later testified that the elderly rabbi was covered in blood.
The procession was halted at the Kossuth ("White") School, where the deportees were counted, their remaining valuables seized, and they were subjected to further humiliation. Women — including an eight-year-old girl and elderly women — were subjected to intimate body searches by midwives acting under duress. One midwife was heard to say: "It's terrible what I have to do to you… please don't be angry with me." The final count recorded 269 men, 341 women, and 373 children taken from the city.
Kecskemét itself had a Jewish community of 1,346 Jews (1941 census) — Neolog (1,100 souls) and Orthodox (198 souls). When German forces entered the city on 19 March 1944, they immediately arrested 30 Jewish notables, imprisoned them at the Kistarcsa detention camp, and deported them to Auschwitz. Mayor Dr. Béla Liszka established the Kecskemét ghetto in the Orthodox synagogue and surrounding buildings, in barracks, and in the copper match factory on the outskirts of the city — ordered Orthodox, Neolog, and converted Jews separated from one another. A Jewish Council of 8 members was established, headed by Dezső Schönberger. The move into the ghetto began 30 May 1944 at 6 a.m., with only 2 square metres of living space per person.
On 16 June 1944 — the same day the Jews of Felegyhaz arrived — most Kecskemét ghetto residents were also transferred to the copper match factory, which now served as the regional deportation center. Before the transfer, Hungarian gendarmes forced all Jews to assemble in the square in front of the municipal building, strip naked, and stand while gendarmes searched their bodies and belongings for hidden valuables. Dr. Schönberger resigned his position before this transfer.
Between 16 and 20 June 1944, Jews from ghettos across Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun, Csongrád, and Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok counties were funneled into the copper match factory. More than 5,400 Jews — including the 985 from Felegyhaz — were held there on the bare factory floor, without the possibility of washing, awaiting deportation east.
Before the second transport departed, approximately 70 people poisoned themselves — most died.
The Jews of Felegyhaz were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau together with approximately 5,000 other Jews from the region, in two transports departing on 25 and 27 June 1944. Upon arrival at Auschwitz-Birkenau, approximately 90% were sent directly to the gas chambers. This included Reb Ahron Mordechai Lieberman זצ"ל הי"ד and his wife Rebbetzin Frimet, whose shared yahrzeit is י' תמוז תש"ד. His daughter Rochel Leah הי"ד and her husband Rav Yom Tov Lipa Weinberger and their four children were also murdered. His daughter Esther הי"ד was likewise killed. His son R' Shlomo הי"ד was murdered on the way to Auschwitz.
Of the Jews deported from Felegyhaz, only 97 returned. Those who came back found their homes occupied and their belongings taken. Most eventually left the city. A survivor later said: "I am no longer a whole person… I always return to this."
On 8 November 1946, a city councillor rose at a meeting of the Felegyhaz municipal council and proposed: "Bercsényi Street — since it was from that street that the deported local Jews began their final and fateful journey — should be renamed the Street of the 1944 Martyrs." The council accepted the proposal. The street where both synagogues stood, where the ghetto was established, where Reb Ahron Mordechai's kehilla had prayed and lived for generations, now bears that name.
Memorial plaques were placed at the cultural center, at the Jewish cemetery, on the wall of the building where the final humiliations took place, and at the Móra Ferenc Gymnasium listing the Jewish kedoshim alongside the school's other war dead. A private plaque at Damjanich utca 6 was commissioned by Kalmár Endre for his family — he took his own life shortly after, unable to bear being left alone.
יזכור אלהים נשמות קדושים ועברים שנהרגו ונשרפו ונטבחו על קידוש השם
May God remember the holy and pure souls who were killed, burned, and slaughtered in sanctification of His Name
הי"ד
The resting places of our ancestors, the gedolei Yisroel from whom the family descends, and the holy rabbonim with whom the family was bound through marriage, learning, and chassidus. For one who has the zechus to travel to these places — to daven, to say Tehillim, and to remember.
בִּזְמַן שֶׁאֵין צַדִּיקִים בַּדּוֹר, וְאֵין מוֹצֵא הַשְּׁכִינָה מָקוֹם לָנוּחַ, אָז הִיא שׁוֹרָה עַל הַצַּדִּיקִים יְשֵׁנֵי עָפָר.
בִּיאוּר הַגְּרָ"א, תִּקּוּנֵי זֹהַר