Yechezkel Levenstein

Rabbi
Yechezkel Levenstein
Born 1895
Warsaw
Died 1974 (aged 78–79)
Bene Berak
Education Raduń Yeshiva, Kelm Talmud Torah

Rabbi Yechezkel Levenstein (Rav Yechezkel HaLevi Levenstein),[1] known as Reb Chatzkel, (1895 - 18 Adar 1974), was the mashgiach ruchani of the Mir yeshiva, in Mir, Belarus and during the yeshiva's flight to Lithuania and on to Shanghai due to the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany in World War II. He was a leader of several yeshivas in Europe, America, and Israel, and raised several generations of Torah-observant Jewry. He was a disciple of Simchah Zissel Broide.[2]

Biography

Rabbi Levenstein was born in Warsaw.[3] His mother, Zlota, died when he was just five years old; his father, Reb Yehuda, subsequently remarried.[3] He studied for 2 1/2 years in the yeshiva in Łomża, where he was imbued with mussar, then in Raduń Yeshiva under the Chofetz Chaim and the famous mashgiach Rav Yeruchom Levovitz, and finally in Kelm.

His rebbetzin, Chaya, was an orphan. He had "rejected glowing offers made to him by wealthy men who wanted him for their daughters" saying They'd "be unable to share a life of privation and restraint and of subsisting on the bare essentials."[3]

Shanghai

News reached Shanghai Adar 5703 (1943), where the Mir spent the war years, of the murders of so many of Lithuanian Jewry. The eulogy of the martyrs by the mashgiach was published in a book, Mimizrach Shemesh.[4]

Yeshivos

The Yeshivos that he founded or strongly influenced include:[5]

  • Mir Yeshiva (Poland), as Mashgiach Ruchani
  • Mir Yeshivah (Yerushalayim)
  • Ponovezh Yeshivah (B'nei Brak)

Works

The Mir yeshiva in the Beth Aharon Synagogue, Shanghai; Rabbi Levenstein is seated in the front row, first on the right (left of picture)

References

  1. ↑ The title of this book notes that he was a Levi. Or Yechezkel : Rav Yechezkel HaLevi Levenstein (7 Vol.). Retrieved 2017-02-19.
  2. ↑ Goldberger, Moshe. One Minute History Lessons: Six Millennia of Great Jewish Leaders. Targum Press.
  3. 1 2 3 "Rav Yechezkel Levenstein zt"l, Mashgiach of Mir and Ponevezh, On His 37th Yahrtzeit, Today". Matzav. Retrieved 2017-02-16.
  4. ↑ "An Approach to the Suffering of the European Churban". Retrieved 2017-02-16.
  5. 1 2 Or Yechezkel : Rav Yechezkel HaLevi Levenstein (7 Vol.). Retrieved 2017-02-19.
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