Chaim Zev Malinowitz (1952 – November 21, 2019) was a
Haredi
Haredi Judaism ( he, ', ; also spelled ''Charedi'' in English; plural ''Haredim'' or ''Charedim'') consists of groups within Orthodox Judaism that are characterized by their strict adherence to ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions, in oppos ...
community rabbi,
dayan (rabbinical court judge), and
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 cente ...
ic scholar. Fluent in all areas of the Talmud,
halakha
''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandm ...
(Jewish law), and
hashkafa
''Hashkafa'' ( he, השקפה, lit., "outlook"; plural ''hashkafot'', ''hashkafos'', ''hashkafas'') is the Hebrew term for worldview and guiding philosophy, used almost exclusively within Orthodox Judaism. A ''hashkafa'' is a perspective that Or ...
(Orthodox Jewish worldview), he was the general editor of the 73-volume
Schottenstein Edition of the Babylonian Talmud
The ''Schottenstein Edition of the Babylonian Talmud'' is a 20th-century, 73-volume edition of the Babylonian Talmud (Talmud Bavli) featuring an elucidated translation and commentary, and published by ArtScroll, a division of Mesorah Publicat ...
published by
ArtScroll
ArtScroll is an imprint of translations, books and commentaries from an Orthodox Jewish perspective published by Mesorah Publications, Ltd., a publishing company based in Rahway, New Jersey. Rabbi Nosson Scherman is the general editor.
ArtScroll' ...
. After making ''
aliyah
Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the Israel, State of Israel ...
'' to Israel, he became the Rav of Beis Tefillah Yonah Avraham, an English-speaking congregation for Anglo ''
olim
Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the Israel, State of Israel ...
'' in
Ramat Beit Shemesh
Beit Shemesh ( he, בֵּית שֶׁמֶשׁ ) is a city located approximately west of Jerusalem in Israel's Jerusalem District, with a population of in .
History Tel Beit Shemesh
The small archaeological tell northeast of the modern city wa ...
, which he led for 17 years.
Early life and education
Chaim Zev Malinowitz was born in 1952 on the
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets.
Traditionally an im ...
of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
His father, Rabbi Avrohom Aharon Malinowitz, had been a student of
Aharon Kotler
Aharon Kotler (1892–1962) was an Orthodox Jewish rabbi and a prominent leader of Orthodox Judaism in Lithuania and the United States; the latter being where he founded Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood Township, New Jersey.
Early life
Kotler w ...
in
Kletsk
Kletsk ( be, Клецк, Klieck, originally known as ''Klechesk'', russian: Клецк, pl, Kleck, ) is a city in the Minsk Region of Belarus, located on the Lan River. In 2015 it had 11,237 inhabitants.
History
The town was founded in the 11 ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
(historically
Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
, now
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...
).
[ Malinowitz was a gifted student at ]Rabbi Jacob Joseph School
The Rabbi Jacob Joseph School is an Orthodox Jewish day school located in Staten Island, New York that serves students from nursery through twelfth grade, with another branch in Edison, New Jersey. The school was founded in 1903 by Rabbi Shmuel Y ...
. After his bar mitzvah, he was accepted to the Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia
The Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia ( he, פילאדעלפיע ישיבה) is a Haredi Litvish yeshiva in the Overbrook neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its heads of school are Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky, Rabbi Shimon Yehudah Svei a ...
where, albeit younger than the other students, he skipped two grades and was accepted to the beth midrash
A ''beth midrash'' ( he, בית מדרש, or ''beis medrash'', ''beit midrash'', pl. ''batei midrash'' "House of Learning") is a hall dedicated for Torah study, often translated as a "study hall." It is distinct from a synagogue (''beth kness ...
(undergraduate-level) program under Rabbi Mendel Kaplan.[ His desire to have more time for study led him to begin awakening at 4 a.m. and praying ''vasikin'', the pre-dawn prayer, a practice he maintained for the rest of his life.][
He next studied at Yeshivas Iyun HaTalmud in ]Monsey, New York
Monsey (, yi, מאנסי, translit=Monsi) is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Ramapo, Rockland County, New York, United States, located north of Airmont, east of Viola, south of New Hempstead, and west of Spring Valley. The ...
, under Rabbi Abba Berman, a main disciple of Rabbi Yerucham Levovitz
Rav Yeruchom Levovitz ( he, ירוחם ליוואוויץ; ca. 1875-1936), also known by his hundreds of students simply as The Mashgiach, was a famous mashgiach ruchani and baal mussar (Jewish Ethics) at the Mir yeshiva in Belarus.
Early life
...
. He remained at this yeshivah for six years, until his marriage in 1976, whereupon he entered the kollel
A kollel ( he, כולל, , , a "gathering" or "collection" f scholars is an institute for full-time, advanced study of the Talmud and rabbinic literature. Like a yeshiva, a kollel features shiurim (lectures) and learning ''sedarim'' (sessions); ...
.[ In 1980, he was appointed by Berman to take over as rosh kollel when Berman made ]aliyah
Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the Israel, State of Israel ...
to Israel.[ In the early 1970s, Malinowitz also studied the ]Tanya
Tanya may refer to:
* Tanya (Judaism),an early work of Hasidic philosophy by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi.
* Tanya (name), a given name and list of people with the name
* Tanya or Lara Saint Paul (born 1946)
* List of Mortal Kombat characters#Tany ...
in a late-night ''shiur
Shiur (, , lit. ''amount'', pl. shiurim ) is a lecture on any Torah topic, such as Gemara, Mishnah, Halakha (Jewish law), Tanakh (Bible), etc.
History
The Hebrew term שיעור ("designated amount") came to refer to a portion of Jud ...
'' given by Chabad
Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (), is an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic dynasty. Chabad is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, particularly for its outreach activities. It is one of the largest Hasidic group ...
rabbi Yoel Kahn
Reb Yoel Kahan (February 14, 1930 – July 15, 2021) was a senior Chabad rabbi, who served as the leading and for the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. His position as leading and made him the default authority on the Rebb ...
.
Rabbinic career
After receiving rabbinic ordination
Semikhah ( he, סמיכה) is the traditional Jewish name for rabbinic ordination.
The original ''semikhah'' was the formal "transmission of authority" from Moses through the generations. This form of ''semikhah'' ceased between 360 and 425 C ...
from Rabbi Moshe Feinstein
Moshe Feinstein ( he, משה פײַנשטיין; Lithuanian pronunciation: ''Moshe Faynshteyn''; en, Moses Feinstein; March 3, 1895 – March 23, 1986) was an American Orthodox rabbi, scholar, and ''posek'' (authority on ''halakha''—Je ...
, Malinowitz served as a dayan (rabbinical court judge) for the rabbinical court
A beit din ( he, בית דין, Bet Din, house of judgment, , Ashkenazic: ''beis din'', plural: batei din) is a rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel. Today, it ...
of Kollel HaRabbanim in Monsey. In this role, he became known as a "world authority on ''gittin
Gittin (Hebrew: ) is a tractate of the Mishnah and the Talmud, and is part of the order of Nashim. The content of the tractate primarily deals with the legal provisions related to halakhic divorce, in particular, the laws relating to the ''Get'' ...
''" (Jewish divorce) and also dealt with cases of '' agunos''.[ He staunchly opposed the 1992 New York Get Law proposed by Jewish activist groups, which would penalize husbands who refused to grant their wives a '']get
Get or GET may refer to:
* Get (animal), the offspring of an animal
* Get (divorce document), in Jewish religious law
* GET (HTTP), a type of HTTP request
* "Get" (song), by the Groggers
* Georgia Time, used in the Republic of Georgia
* Get AS, a ...
'' by making it difficult for them to arrange a civil divorce. Malinowitz contended that the coercive element of the penalty could halakhically invalidate all divorces in New York. Ultimately, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach
Shlomo Zalman Auerbach ( he, שלמה זלמן אויערבאך; July 20, 1910 – February 20, 1995) was a renowned Orthodox Jewish rabbi, posek, and rosh yeshiva of the Kol Torah yeshiva in Jerusalem. The Jerusalem neighborhood Ramat Shlomo i ...
's decision on the matter, which agreed with Malinowitz's position, eroded support for the law.[
In 1992 Malinowitz was appointed, along with Rabbi Yisrael Simcha Schorr, as general editor of the ]Schottenstein Edition of the Babylonian Talmud
The ''Schottenstein Edition of the Babylonian Talmud'' is a 20th-century, 73-volume edition of the Babylonian Talmud (Talmud Bavli) featuring an elucidated translation and commentary, and published by ArtScroll, a division of Mesorah Publicat ...
published by ArtScroll
ArtScroll is an imprint of translations, books and commentaries from an Orthodox Jewish perspective published by Mesorah Publications, Ltd., a publishing company based in Rahway, New Jersey. Rabbi Nosson Scherman is the general editor.
ArtScroll' ...
. The English-language Schottenstein Talmud spanned 73 volumes and was completed over a period of 15 years. Malinowitz was responsible for approving "every single line and every single footnote" of the translation and commentary of the Talmud submitted by the editorial staff for both the English and Hebrew editions. According to a senior editor on the project, Rabbi Eliezer Herzka: "His role was to learn through the ''sugya
The Gemara (also transliterated Gemarah, or in Yiddish Gemo(r)re; from Aramaic , from the Semitic root ג-מ-ר ''gamar'', to finish or complete) is the component of the Talmud comprising rabbinical analysis of and commentary on the Mishnah w ...
'' opic
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) was the United States Government's Development finance institution until it merged with the Development Credit Authority (DCA) of the United States Agency for International Development (USAI ...
with the ArtScroll commentary to probe it to find its weak points". Herzka explained that Malinowitz's knowledge of the Talmud was so broad that he would know when the present ''sugya'' inadequately covered important opinions by the classic Talmudic commentators that were cited in similar ''sugyas'' elsewhere in Talmud.[ Nothing was considered final until Malinowitz approved the finished draft.] Malinowitz also worked on ArtScroll's elucidated Mishnah
The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Torah ...
project. He continued his association with ArtScroll after making aliyah
Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the Israel, State of Israel ...
in 1997.[
Upon moving to Israel, Malinowitz began to teach at Yeshivat Aish HaTorah.][ In 2002, he was hired as Rav of Beis Tefillah Yonah Avraham in ]Ramat Beit Shemesh
Beit Shemesh ( he, בֵּית שֶׁמֶשׁ ) is a city located approximately west of Jerusalem in Israel's Jerusalem District, with a population of in .
History Tel Beit Shemesh
The small archaeological tell northeast of the modern city wa ...
, an English-speaking congregation catering to Anglo ''olim
Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the Israel, State of Israel ...
''. As a community rav, Malinowitz introduced many ''shiurim
Shiur (, , lit. ''amount'', pl. shiurim ) is a lecture on any Torah topic, such as Gemara, Mishnah, Halakha (Jewish law), Tanakh (Bible), etc.
History
The Hebrew term שיעור ("designated amount") came to refer to a portion of Ju ...
'' to the synagogue schedule, including classes on different subjects and at different levels for men, women, and children. He also studied one-on-one with many congregants.
Personal qualities
Malinowitz was fluent in all areas of the Talmud, halakha
''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandm ...
(Jewish law), and hashkafa
''Hashkafa'' ( he, השקפה, lit., "outlook"; plural ''hashkafot'', ''hashkafos'', ''hashkafas'') is the Hebrew term for worldview and guiding philosophy, used almost exclusively within Orthodox Judaism. A ''hashkafa'' is a perspective that Or ...
(Orthodox Jewish worldview). He combined this knowledge with "fearlessness" to act on his convictions and a strong desire for truth.[ At the same time, he was regarded as a friendly, "down to earth" personality who cared for others.]
Personal life
Malinowitz married Simi Maza, daughter of Rabbi Dovber Maza, a Torah educator, in 1976.[ The couple had six sons and four daughters.][ After making aliyah, they resided in ]Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
.[
Malinowitz died in Jerusalem on November 21, 2019 at the age of 67.][ He was buried in the ]Rechovot
Rehovot ( he, רְחוֹבוֹת ''Rəḥōvōt'', ar, رحوڤوت ''Reḥūfūt'') is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, about south of Tel Aviv. In it had a population of .
Etymology
Israel Belkind, foun ...
cemetery near his parents.
Selected articles
*
*
References
External links
Audio shiurim by Rabbi Chaim Malinowitz
at torahdownloads.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malinowitz, Chaim
1952 births
2019 deaths
American emigrants to Israel
Authors of works on the Talmud
Haredi rabbis in Israel
Rabbis from New York (state)
Writers from Manhattan
People from the Lower East Side
People from Jerusalem
20th-century American rabbis
21st-century American rabbis