Chanoch Henoch Eigis ( yi, חנוך העניך אייגעש; 1863–1941) was a prominent Lithuanian rabbi in the first half of the 20th century. He was one of the leading rabbis of

Vilna Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional u ...

for over 40 years, until he was killed in 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; a ...

. He is chiefly known for a book of

responsa ''Responsa'' (plural of Latin , 'answer') comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them. In the modern era, the term is used to describe decisions and rulings made by scholars i ...

entitled ''Marcheshet''.

Life

Chanoch Henoch Eigis was born in Russian

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 ...

in 1863. His father, Simcha Reuven, was a businessman and a scholar, the author of a number of works of Jewish thought. Chanoch was educated in Russian, Brisk and

Kovno Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...

and finished his education in the world-famous

Volozhin yeshiva Yeshivas Etz Ḥayyim (), commonly called the Volozhin Yeshiva (), was a prestigious Lithuanian ''yeshiva'' located in the town of Volozhin, Russian Empire (now Valozhyn, Belarus). It was founded around 1803 by Rabbi Ḥayyim Volozhiner, a stude ...

. He married Hindy, the daughter of Rav Shmuel Dibretinsky. In 1898, at the age of 34, Chanoch received an appointment as a rabbi in Vilna, a position he continued to hold until his death. Throughout his career he maintained a close, personal relationship with the leader of the ultra-orthodox community in Vilna, Rabbi

Chaim Ozer Grodzinski Chaim Ozer Grodzinski ( he, חיים עוזר גראדזענסקי; August 24, 1863 – August 9, 1940) was a ''Av beis din'' (rabbinical chief justice), '' posek'' (halakhic authority), and Talmudic scholar in Vilnius, Lithuania in the late 19 ...

and the two jointly signed numerous petitions, letters and announcements. The two rabbis jointly founded a ''kollel'' – a yeshiva for advanced rabbinic scholars who studied on their own –attended by many of the best

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 students in Lithuania. During the First World War Rabbi Grodzinski was forced to flee Vilna and Rabbi Eigis replaced him until he was able to return. When an argument arose concerning the identity of the government-appointed rabbi of Vilna, Rabbi Eigis opposed the candidate who supported the local Zionists, siding instead with the candidate supported by Rabbi Grodzinski, Rabbi

Yitzhak Rubinstein Yitzhak( ()) is a male first name, and is Hebrew for Isaac. Yitzhak may refer to: People * Yitzhak ha-Sangari, rabbi who converted the Khazars to Judaism *Yitzhak Rabin (1922–1995), Israeli politician and Prime Minister *Yitzhak Shamir (1915– ...

. After the

Balfour Declaration The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British government in 1917 during the First World War announcing its support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine, then an Ottoman regio ...

, Rabbi Eigis joined the Mizrachi, the

religious Zionist Religious Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת דָּתִית, translit. ''Tziyonut Datit'') is an ideology that combines Zionism and Orthodox Judaism. Its adherents are also referred to as ''Dati Leumi'' ( "National Religious"), and in Israel, the ...

organization. In 1923, Rabbi Eigis joined other Polish and Lithuanian rabbis and signed a proclamation supporting Mizrachi; however, in 1929 he stopped supporting the Mizrachi because of their support for an alternate candidate(ironically, the same Yitzchak Rubinstein from the earlier dispute, but this time for a different position) for the rabbinate of Vilna. Nonetheless, he continued to work in support of

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 ...

(emigration of Jews to Palestine) and in 1935 he was one of the founders of the ultra-orthodox department of the

Jewish National Fund Jewish National Fund ( he, קֶרֶן קַיֶּימֶת לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, ''Keren Kayemet LeYisrael'', previously , ''Ha Fund HaLeumi'') was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Syria (later Mandatory Palestine, and subseq ...

. After Rabbi Grodzinski's death in 1940, Rabbi Eigis was widely recognized as the senior rabbinic personality in Vilna and indeed in all of Lithuania. When the

Second World War 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 ...

broke out, as a result of the

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , long_name = Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H27337, Moskau, Stalin und Ribbentrop im Kreml.jpg , image_width = 200 , caption = Stalin and Ribbentrop shaking ...

large numbers of yeshiva students streamed into Vilna from all corners of Lithuania. Rabbi Eigis worked tirelessly in support of these students, and many checks signed by him were sent by the "Joint". In 1941, at the age of 71, Rabbi Eigis was murdered by the Nazis. The date of his death in uncertain. There is testimony that he was killed on the 15th day of Elul (September 7); other reports state that he was killed 6 weeks earlier. The place of his death is also uncertain. Some reports indicate that he was killed in Vilna, while other reports indicate that he was first taken to Ponar, where he was killed by the

Einsatzgruppen (, ; also ' task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the im ...

Works

Rabbi Eigis's first work, entitled ''Minchat Chanoch'', was added as an appendix to his father-in-law's work ''Olat Shmuel''. The work deals with issues related to the tractates of Seder

Kodashim file:Pidyon HaBen P6020102.JPG, 150px, Pidyon haben Kodashim ( he, קדשים, "Holy Things") is the fifth of the six orders, or major divisions, of the Mishnah, Tosefta and the Talmud, and deals largely with the services within the Temple in Jer ...

and tractate

Avodah Zarah ''Avodah Zarah'' (Hebrew: , or "foreign worship", meaning " idolatry" or "strange service") is the name of a tractate of the Talmud, located in ''Nezikin'', the fourth Order of the Talmud dealing with damages. The main topic of the tractate is ...

. Eigis' most famous work are the books of ''

'' entitled ''Marcheshet'', which deal both with practical and theoretical issues of Jewish law. The work was published in two parts, in 1931 and 1935. In the introduction to the book, Rabbi Eigis expresses his reservations regarding the so-called

Brisker method The Brisker method, or Brisker ''derech'', is a reductionistic approach to Talmud study innovated by Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik of Brisk (Brest, Belarus), as opposed to the traditional approach which was rather holistic. It has since become popula ...

ic methodology. Indeed, Rabbi Eigis demonstrates great scholarship in the work, without the use of the analytical tools used by the Brisk school.

References

External links

*Responsa "Marcheshet" at the sit
hebrewbooks.org
* Minchas Chanoch as part of Olat Shmuel vol 1 at sit
hebrewbooks.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eigis, Chanoch Henoch 1863 births 1941 deaths Lithuanian Haredi rabbis 19th-century Lithuanian rabbis 20th-century Lithuanian rabbis Rabbis from Vilnius