Menashe Klein
Rabbi Menashe Klein (1924–2011) (Hebrew: ר' מנשה קליין), also known as the Ungvarer Rov (Yiddish: אונגווארער רב), was a Hasidic Rebbe and Posek (arbiter of Jewish law)[1] He authored 18 volumes of responsa, spanning over 50 years, entitled Mishneh Halachos. Additionally, he authored some 25 other seforim, including a commentary on Rabbi Simeon Kayyara's BeHag. Toward the end of his life, he moved from Brooklyn, New York to live in Jerusalem, Israel.
The Ungvarer Rov was born in 1924 in the town Irlyava near the city of Ungvar, Czechoslovakia (currently located in Ukraine),[2] and studied in the Yeshiva of the Rav of Ungvar, Rabbi Yosef Elimelech Kahane.
During World War II, he was in Auschwitz-Birkenau, Auschwitz-Buna, and finally in Buchenwald. At Buchenwald, he was sent out to "Stein," a Nazi satellite camp at Eschershausen but was listed in camp records as returned to Buchenwald, where he was liberated and where he completed a postwar military interview. Subsequently, he was taken with other Buchenwald boys to France to Ecouis and was with the religious complement at Ambloy and Taverny. He came to the United States in 1947. [Based on Red Cross International Tracing Service documents at the USHMM.]
After World War II, he served as Rav in the "Chevrah Liyadi" shul, (which was located in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn) and principal of Yeshivas Shearis Hapleitah, under the direction of Rabbi Yekusiel Yehudah Halberstam, Klausenberger Rebbe. In 1964, he founded Yeshiva Beis Shearim in Boro Park, Brooklyn, in which he served as Rosh HaYeshiva.[3]
In 1983, he established Kiryat Ungvar in the Ramot section of Jerusalem. Today, it is a thriving neighborhood with hundreds of inhabitants.
The Ungvarer Rov was active until old age and was considered by many to be a paramount leader of both Israel and the Diaspora Lithuanian-Haredi community. He had thousands of disciples.[4]
He died on the last day of Elul, 2011, and was buried in Tzfas, near the kever of the Arizal and Beis Yosef.
References
- ↑ Feingold, Henry L. (1992). A time for healing: American Jewry since World War II. The Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 183. ISBN 978-0-8018-4347-1.
- ↑ See "Children of Buchenwald", written by Judith Hemmindinger
- ↑ See Kuntres Persumei Nissa, which can be found in the tenth volume of Mishne Halachos. (New York, 1987)
- ↑ This information can be found in the books of Mishneh Halachos that can be found on http://www.tshuvos.com/