Avraham Grodzinski (c. 1884 - July 13, 1944) was a

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

who served as the

mashgiach ruchani A mashgiach ruchani ( he, משגיח רוחני; pl., ''mashgichim ruchani'im'') or mashgicha ruchani – sometimes mashgiach/mashgicha for short – is a spiritual supervisor or guide. He or she is usually a rabbi who has an official position wit ...

(spiritual supervisor) of the Slabodka yeshiva in Lithuania. He is best known for being the primary disciple of Nosson Tzvi Finkel, the Alter of Slabodka", and for his book of '' mussar'' (ethics) lectures called ''Toras Avraham''.Published posthumously by his son Yitzchak Grodzinsky in conjunction with Kollel ''Toras Avraham''

Early life

Grodzinski was born in 1883 in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

to parents of

Lithuanian Jewish Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks () are Jews with roots in the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (covering present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, the northeastern Suwałki and Białystok regions of Poland, as well as adjacent area ...

descent. His grandfather, Zev Grodzinski, emigrated from Lithuania to Warsaw, and his father, Yitzchak (Itcheh) was one of the leaders of the Warsaw Jewish community. Itcheh established and supported a

yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are st ...

in Warsaw, regarding which the

Chofetz Chaim The '' Sefer'' ''Chafetz Chaim'' (or ''Chofetz Chaim'' or ''Hafetz Hayim'') ( he, חָפֵץ חַיִּים, trans. "Desirer of Life") is a book by Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, who is also called "the Chofetz Chaim" after it. The book deals wit ...

commented "Reb Itcheh saved Jewish education in Warsaw".heard on a tape from

Berel Wein Berel Wein (born March 25, 1934) is an American-born Orthodox rabbi, lecturer and writer. He authored several books, in both Hebrew and English (the latter published by Artscroll), concerning Jewish history and popularized the subject through mor ...

of Yeshiva Shaarei Torah circa 1988 His home was dedicated solely to the dissemination of

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...

and ''

chesed ( he, חֶסֶד, also Romanized: ) is a Hebrew word that means 'kindness or love between people', specifically of the devotional piety of people towards God as well as of love or mercy of God towards humanity. It is frequently used in Psalms i ...

'' (lovingkindness); tens of poor people partook in meals on a daily basis. Grodzinski once quipped, "From a young age, I was so busy assisting and catering to all the guests and helping my father in all his ''chesed'' activities, I did not have a childhood". Itcheh was very close to the great Torah leaders of his time, many of whom frequented his home when visiting Warsaw. The

Beis Halevi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik (born 1820 in Nesvizh, Minsk Governorate, Russian Empire; died May 1, 1892 in Brest-Litovsk, Grodno Governorate, Russian Empire) was the author of Beis Halevi, by which name he is better known among Talmudic scholars. He w ...

asked Itcheh to accompany him to Brisk to accept the helm of the rabbinate there.

Slabodka and the Alter

After short stints studying Torah in Yeshivas Radin and

Łomża Łomża (), in English known as Lomza, is a city in north-eastern Poland, approximately 150 kilometers (90 miles) to the north-east of Warsaw and west of Białystok. It is situated alongside the Narew river as part of the Podlaskie Voivodeship ...

, in 1899 Grodzinski enrolled in the Slabodka yeshiva in Lithuania, which was under the leadership of Nosson Tzvi Finkel. Under the auspices of Finkel, known as the 'Alter of Slabodka', Grodzinski began years of toil in Torah and self-perfection. Although few details from those years are known, the little that is known gives a picture of his character and the methods he used to further his development. He spent two years perfecting the attribute of "greeting every individual with a pleasant facial countenance". People would later attest to the extent of which he inculcated this precept into his character; even in the most horrific times in the

Kovno Ghetto The Kovno Ghetto was a ghetto established by Nazi Germany to hold the Lithuanian Jews of Kaunas during the Holocaust. At its peak, the Ghetto held 29,000 people, most of whom were later sent to concentration and extermination camps, or were sho ...

during the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

, his pleasant facial expression masked his internal grief. Grodzinski's work on character development never interfered with his intense

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...

ic study. During his tenure in Slabodka, Grodzinski forged a deep and close relationship with the Alter. He immersed himself in his mentor's teachings, mastering them all and internalizing them. The Alter, in turn, pointed to him as "my portion in all my efforts." His relationship with the Alter was fundamental to his own personal growth, and years later, when he accepted the mantle of leadership in the Slabodka yeshiva, the presence of the Alter never left his consciousness.

Death

In 1944, Grodzinski was burned alive when the Kovna hospital he was confined to was set ablaze. Of his eight children, four were murdered in the Holocaust and four survived.

Works

''Torat Avraham''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grodzinski, Avraham 1883 births 1944 deaths 20th-century Lithuanian writers 20th-century Lithuanian rabbis Haredi rabbis in Europe Lithuanian Jews who died in the Holocaust Lithuanian Haredi rabbis Mashgiach ruchani Writers of Musar literature Writers from Warsaw Kovno Ghetto inmates Slabodka yeshiva alumni