Chaim Yaakov Stein (March 29, 1913 - June 29, 2011) is best known for leading the

Telshe Yeshiva Telshe Yeshiva (also spelled ''Telz'') is a yeshiva in Wickliffe, Ohio, formerly located in Telšiai, Lithuania. During World War II the yeshiva began relocating to Wickliffe, Ohio, in the United States and is now known as the Rabbinical College ...

at three times in its history: in Lithuania, Cleveland and Wickliffe.

Early life

Chaim Yaakov Stein was born to Binyamin Moshe and Miriam Stein in "the Lithuanian hamlet of Skudvil," where he received his

rabbinical 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 a major Jewish school located there: the Telshe Yeshiva. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he was with those student who fled, and "spent time in labor camps in Siberia." Later he relocated to Cleveland and rebuilt.1941:

Insight

To a student who later self-described as "attitude that I had just to ask a question for the sake of asking” Stein said "You are working hard not to understand – you have got to work hard to understand."

End of life

"He outlived his wife, the former Friedel Zaks" ("daughter of Rav Moshe Yehudah Leib Zaks, a brilliant Rav in Russia") and "is survived by four of their five children:" "two sons, Rav Shmuel Zalman Stein, a Rosh Yeshiva in Yeshiva Birchas Chaim in Lakewood, and Rav Binyomin Moshe Stein who lives in Wickliffe,OH" and two married daughters. A son predeceased Stein. The ''New York Times'' article headlined "Thousands mourn Talmudic scholar" that quoted by name only one ''Maspid'' for R'

Moshe Moses ( el, Μωϋσῆς),from Latin and Greek Moishe ( yi, משה),from Yiddish Moshe ( he, מֹשֶׁה),from Modern Hebrew or Movses (Armenian: Մովսես) from Armenian is a male given name, after the biblical figure Moses. According to th ...

who, they said was "expressing the sorrow heard in eulogy after eulogy" with Stein's wording: "We are all orphans, we have no father." One decades-long student said "To many, Rav Chaim was like a father. To many Rav Chaim was like a zaida." Stein died "just four days after the Petira of Hagon Rav

Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz (1913 – 27 June 2011) was a respected Haredi Lithuanian Torah leader and rosh yeshiva in Bnei Brak, Israel, for over 70 years. He was a '' maggid shiur'' at Yeshivas Tiferes Tzion from 1940 to 2011 and rosh yeshiva of ...

, and less than two weeks after the Petira of Hagon Rav Yitzchok Dov Koppelman ZATZAL." Other reports repeated this observation. The next chance for a followup, "seven and a half years" after his 2005 public reading of "Whoever learns the laws every day is assured that he is destined for the world to come" at the

Daf Yomi ''Daf Yomi'' ( he, דף יומי, ''Daf Yomi'', "page of the day" or "daily folio") is a daily regimen of learning the Oral Torah and its commentaries (also known as the Gemara), in which each of the 2,711 pages of the Babylonian Talmud is covere ...

Siyum HaShas was described as "We will return to you, and you will return to us."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stein, Chaim 1913 births 2011 deaths American Orthodox rabbis Rabbis from Ohio 20th-century American rabbis 21st-century American rabbis