Yehezkel Abramsky

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Rabbi Yehezkel Abramsky (7 February 1886 (near Most and Grodno, Lithuania) – 19 September 1976) was one of the world's most eminent Orthodox rabbis of the 20th century.

He was born in Lithuania, the third child and eldest son of Mordechai Zalman Abramsky, a local timber merchant, and his wife, Freydel Goldin of Grodno, and studied at the yeshivas of Telz, Mir, Slabodka and particularly Brisk under Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik. In 1909 he married Reizel, daughter of Rabbi Israel Jonathan Jerusalimsky, the rabbi of Iehumen, Russia.

1 Rabbinate and scholarship
2 Family
3 External links
4 References

[edit] Rabbinate and scholarship

At the age of 17 he became a rabbi, serving, in turn, the communities of Smolyan, Smolevich and Slutsk.

Following the Russian Revolution, he was at the forefront of opposition to Communist attempts to repress the Jewish religion and culture. As a result the Russian government refused Abramsky permission to take up the rabbinate of Petah Tikvah in Palestine in both 1926 and 1928.

In 1928, he started a Hebrew magazine, Yagdil Torah (lit. "Make [the] Torah Great"), but the authorities closed it after two issues appeared. In 1929, he was arrested and sentenced to five years hard labor in Siberia. However, in 1931 he was rescued by the German government under Chancellor Brüning, who exchanged him for six communists they held.

He emigrated to London in 1932, where he was appointed rov of the Machzike Hadath community in London's East End^[1]. In 1934, Chief Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz persuaded him to become the senior dayan of the London Beth Din, holding the post until he retired to Jerusalem in 1951. The appointment of an East-European chareidi rabbi to the London Beth Din was a departure for the United Synagogue, and started a tradition which continues to the present day. The prestige of the London Beth Din as a world-ranking halachic authority was greatly enhanced with the appointment of Rabbi Abramsky as Rosh Beth Din. Although other renowned talmidei chachamim served both during and since his time—such as Dayan Aryeh Leib Grosnass (Lev Aryeh) and Dayan Rapaport (Be'er Avrohom), it was Dayan Abramsky above all who established the policies and customs that are followed by the London Beth Din to this day^[2].

He produced a massive commentary on the Tosefta, called Hazon Yehezkel (24 volumes, 1925–1975), which was acclaimed by both rabbis and secular scholars.

[edit] Family

He was the father of Professor Chimen Abramsky (and three other sons) and grandfather of Professor Samson Abramsky and Jenny Abramsky.

Rabbi Abramsky died in Jerusalem on 19 September, 1976. His funeral was attended by over 40,000 people, making it one of the largest ever seen in the city.

[edit] External links

^ Bernard Homa, A fortress in Anglo-Jewry, Shapiro-Vallentine, 1953.
^ About the London Beth Din

[edit] References

Raphael Loewe, ‘Abramsky, Yehezkel (1886–1976)’, rev., Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 1 December, 2006