![Tchebiner Rov](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Tchebiner_Rov.jpg)
Rabbi Dov Berish Weidenfeld (1881–1965) was the Chief
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 o ...
of Tshebin (
Trzebinia
Trzebinia (; yi, טשעבין ''Tchebin'') is a town in Chrzanów County, Lesser Poland, Poland with an Orlen oil refinery and a major rail junction of the Kraków - Katowice line, with connections to Oświęcim and Spytkowice. The town be ...
),
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 populou ...
, and after
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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
spent his final years in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
. His principal work of
Jewish law
''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 comman ...
is titled "''Dovev Meisharim''".
Biography
Dov Berish was born in
Hrimlov,
Galicia
Galicia may refer to:
Geographic regions
* Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain
** Gallaecia, a Roman province
** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia
** The medieval King ...
(now
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...
) on 5 January 1881 (5 Shvat 5641 in the Jewish calendar) to his father Jacob 'Yekele' Weidenfeld, rabbi of the town and author of the responsa ''Kochav miYaakov''.
With Reb Yekele's death shortly before Beirish's
Bar Mitzvah, the delicate task of raising a new prodigy fell to his widow – herself renowned for her genius and wit (she wrote a great number of her husband's responsa on dictation) and to her two older sons: Reb Yitzchak, who replaced his late father as Rav of Hrimlov and Reb Nachum, Rav of Dombrovo and author of the Chazon Nachum, and later celebrated as a great posek in his own right.
By age 19 Reb Beirish entered by marriage into the illustrious family of Rav Yisroel Yoseif HaCharif of Tshebin. Since he did not want any rabbinic post, his wife administered a modest coal business, while he continued his single-minded pursuit of Torah study, amassing knowledge of phenomenal breadth and scope. Nonetheless, the avalanche of requests from varied
kehillos that he lead them as their Rav continued, and his friend, Reb
Meir Arik, prayed that his business fail so that Klal Yisrael not be deprived of his leadership. For twenty years, this Tshebiner
ba'al habayis (layman) – already renowned as the "Gaon of Tshebin" – was consulted by leading rabbanim with whom he maintained a vigorous correspondence; still he remained deaf to all rabbinical offers. However, due to his love of learning and teaching, he would commute daily to and from
racowto say
shiurim to the local
bachurim after business hours.
He carefully collected copies of these
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 ...
, amassing enough material to publish ten volumes. In 1937 he succeeded in producing the first and only
sefer ever printed in Tshebin, entitled ''Doveiv Meishorim'' – the other nine volumes were never published.
His noted son-in-law, his successor as
rosh yeshiva
Rosh yeshiva ( he, ראש ישיבה, pl. he, ראשי ישיבה, '; Anglicized pl. ''rosh yeshivas'') is the title given to the dean of a yeshiva, a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primar ...
of Kochav MiYaakov, and a noted gaon and author in his own right, Rabbi Baruch Shimon Schneersohn relates that upon republishing these responsa some 26 years after they were written, he included the Rabbie's subsequent handwritten glosses to the first edition. He found not one correction, only additional proofs to those very answers originally written without as much as a
Gemara
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 ...
.
The Tshebiner Rav's picture, along with those of the Rebbes of
Ger and
Belz
Belz ( uk, Белз; pl, Bełz; yi, בעלז ') is a small city in Lviv Oblast of Western Ukraine, near the border with Poland, located between the Solokiya river (a tributary of the Bug River) and the Richytsia stream. Belz hosts the administ ...
, had appeared in the venomous tabloid
Der Sturmer, his caption reading: "The world's greatest Talmudist." Realizing that he was a target for elimination, he fled, crossing the
Communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...
border and entering
Lvov
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukrain ...
(
Lemberg
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukrain ...
). Communist authorities were carrying out their systematic erasure of religious life, and the gaon of Tshebin, along with his wife, youngest daughter and thousands of other Jews, were deported to Siberia, arriving in
Sverdlovsk,
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...
, in late 1940.
The Tshebiner Rav arrived on
Erev Pesach, 1946, in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, which he was to call home for the rest of his life. He was soon recognized as one of the leaders of
Chareidi
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 ...
Jewry in the
Land of Israel and served as a leading member of the
Council of Sages of
Agudas Yisroel Agudas Israel may refer to:
* Agudas Israel (Latvia), a political party in Latvia during the 1920s and 1930s
* World Agudath Israel, the political arm of Ashkenazi Haredi Judaism
*Agudat Yisrael, a political party representing the ultra-Orthodox pop ...
.
He established the Kochav miYaakov
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 Jerusalem, first in the
Shaarei Chesed neighborhood and later in a purpose-built building in
Tel Arza Tel Arza ( he, תל ארזה}) is a Hareidi neighborhood in northern Jerusalem. It is bordered by Ezrat Torah on the west, Shikun Chabad on the south, the Bukharim quarter on the east, and Sanhedria on the north.
Tel Arza was established in 1931 ...
.
He died on the 10th of Cheshvan, 5726, 70 minutes before Shabbos. He was interred on
Har HaMenuchot
Har HaMenuchot ( he, הר המנוחות, Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi pronunciation, Har HaMenuchos, lit. "Mount of Those who are Resting", also known as Givat Shaul Cemetery) is the largest cemetery in Jerusalem. The hilltop burial ground lies at ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weidenfeld, Dov Berish
20th-century rabbis in Jerusalem
Hasidic rabbis in Israel
Polish Hasidic rabbis
Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah
Rosh yeshivas
Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe)
Polish emigrants to Israel
People from Miechów County
1881 births
1965 deaths
Hasidic rabbis in Mandatory Palestine
Burials at Har HaMenuchot
20th-century Polish rabbis