Aryeh Ze'ev (Leib) Gurwicz (1906
–20 October 1982
) was an influential
Orthodox
Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to:
Religion
* Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...
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 ...
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 ce ...
ic scholar. He was the son-in-law of Rabbi
Elyah Lopian
Eliyahu Lopian (1876 – 21 September 1970), known as Reb Elyah, was a leading rabbi of the Musar movement, Mussar Movement. As a disciple of the Kelm Talmud Torah method, he was known for his strictness with respect to order and self-control.
B ...
and best known as
Rosh Yeshiva of the
Gateshead Yeshiva
Gateshead Talmudical College ( he, ישיבת בית יוסף גייטסהעד), popularly known as Gateshead Yeshiva, is located in the Bensham area of Gateshead in North East England. It is the largest yeshiva in Europe and considered to be o ...
in
Gateshead,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, where he taught for over 30 years.
He studied at various yeshivas in
Lithuania and
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 ...
before moving to
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
to get married in 1932. This move saved him from 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; ...
under the
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...
.
Early life and education
He was born Aryeh Ze'ev Kushelevsky in the small town of
Molėtai,
Russian empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
(nowadays Lithuania), where his father, Rabbi Moshe Aharon Kushelevsky served as rabbi. His mother was a direct descendant of the
Vilna Gaon.
His brother was Rabbi Eliyahu (Elya) Kushelevsky (1910–1992), who later served as ''
av beis din'' (head of the rabbinical court) of
Beersheba
Beersheba or Beer Sheva, officially Be'er-Sheva ( he, בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע, ''Bəʾēr Ševaʿ'', ; ar, بئر السبع, Biʾr as-Sabʿ, Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. ...
.
At the age of thirteen he left home to learn in
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 ...
. He sneaked across the border into
Lithuania and went to learn at the
Vilkomir yeshiva ketana, where he proved himself to be a diligent and capable student. After a year and a half in Vilkomir, he traveled to
Vilna
Vilnius ( , ; see also #Etymology and other names, other names) is the capital and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the munic ...
in the hopes of seeing his family, who had moved there. But his father had been called back to Malat. In the meantime, Vilna was the new home of the
Mir yeshiva, which had relocated deep in Russian territory during World War I. Leib decided to join the Mir yeshiva in Vilna, becoming one of its youngest students.
After studying for a few years at the Mir yeshiva, he was forced to change his Polish passport. Due to political tensions between Lithuania and Poland, Polish nationals were liable to be expelled from the country. The nearest passport office was in
Baranovich, where a student of the
Baranovich Yeshiva arranged the forgeries. Forced to choose a new surname, he selected his mother's maiden name, Gurwicz, which he kept for the rest of his life.
He stayed on in the Baranovich Yeshiva and paid off his debt to the student who had forged his passport by agreeing to learn the ''
Ketzos HaChoshen'' with him for a year.
Altogether, Rabbi Gurwicz learned in the Mir for eight years, after which he traveled to study under Rabbi
Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik
Yitzchok Zev Halevi Soloveitchik (Hebrew: יצחק זאב הלוי סולובייצ'יק), also known as Velvel Soloveitchik ("Zev" means "wolf" in Hebrew, and "Velvel" is the diminutive of "wolf" in Yiddish) or the Brisker Rov ("rabbi of/from ...
(known as "the Brisker Rav").
The Brisker Rav valued his student highly and said of him: "Reb Leib knows how to learn".
Marriage and move to England
In 1932 Rabbi Elyah Lopian, then head of the Eitz Chaim yeshiva in London, came to Poland — then the Torah center of the world — with his eldest daughter, Liba, in the hopes of finding a suitable marriage partner for her.
Rabbi Lopian's friend, 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
...
, recommended that he go to the Brisker Rav and ask for "Leibeleh Malater".
Father and daughter were favorably impressed with the young genius, and when the marriage terms were written up, it was agreed that Liba would leave London and live in Poland, where Rabbi Gurwicz would continue learning.
During the engagement period, however, Rabbi Lopian's wife, Sarah Leah, died at the age of 49 in England, leaving 13 orphans. Liba, the eldest girl, wrote to her fiancé saying that she could not leave her father with the burden of caring for all the children on his own, and that if Leib wished to break the
shidduch
The ''Shidduch'' ( he, שִׁדּוּךְ, pl. ''shidduchim'' , Aramaic ) is a system of matchmaking in which Jewish singles are introduced to one another in Orthodox Jewish communities for the purpose of marriage.
The practice
In the past an ...
, she would understand. Unsure of how to proceed, Rabbi Gurwicz traveled to the elder sage of the generation, 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 ...
, who was then 94 years old and in poor health. Instead of giving a direct response to Gurwicz's question about whether to proceed with the shidduch, the Chofetz Chaim kept repeating a series of verses from the morning prayers, including "Blessed is He Who redeems and rescues". Rabbi Gurwicz understood this as a message that he should go ahead and marry Liba Lopian and move to England.
His bride insisted that they use the presents and money they received for their wedding to pay for a ticket for his father to join them at the wedding in England; it was the first time father and son had met since Rabbi Gurwicz had left home at age 13. A few years after Rabbi Kushelevsky returned to Poland, he was murdered by the
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...
.
As a resident of England, Rabbi Gurwicz was able to help his sister, brothers-in-law, and several friends obtain visas to leave
Nazi-occupied Poland in 1940 by acting as their sponsor.
The Gurwiczes had three sons and a daughter:
Avrohom, who succeeded his father as rosh yeshiva; Yitzchak Dovid, a consulting engineer;
Chaim Ozer, a lecturer at Gateshead Yeshiva; and Sarah, who married her cousin (Leib Gurwicz's nephew) Rabbi
Tzvi Kushelevsky, head of the Heichal HaTorah BeTzion Yeshiva in Jerusalem.
London
Upon arriving in London, Rabbi Gurwicz gave a ''
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 Ju ...
'' at his father-in-law's
Etz Chaim Yeshiva; one of his students was Rabbi
Immanuel Jakobovits
Immanuel Jakobovits, Baron Jakobovits (8 February 192131 October 1999) was the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth from 1967 to 1991. Prior to this, he had served as Chief Rabbi of Ireland and as rabbi of the Fi ...
, who received
semicha
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 him. He also served as the Rav of the Great Garden Street Synagogue in the
East End.
Gateshead
In 1948
Rabbi Gurwicz's brother-in-law, Rabbi
Leib Lopian, who studied in the Gateshead
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); ...
headed by Rabbi
Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler
Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler (1892 – 31 December 1953) was an Orthodox rabbi, Talmudic scholar, and Jewish philosopher of the 20th century. He is best known for being the ''mashgiach ruchani'' ("spiritual counselor") of the Ponevezh yeshiva in I ...
,
wrote to him in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
suggesting that he join the staff of the budding Gateshead yeshiva. This yeshiva had grown to 120 students from the influx of refugees following World War II,
and now included immigrant students whose learning skills were much greater than those of boys from the East End, since the former had studied in Europe's leading yeshivas.
Rabbi Gurwicz was accepted to the staff and began teaching the highest ''
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 Ju ...
'' (class).
Under his leadership, the number of students increased many times over, and Gateshead became Europe's primary Torah center.
He also served as the chairman of the
World Agudath Israel
World Agudath Israel ( he, אגודת ישראל), usually known as the Aguda, was established in the early twentieth century as the political arm of Ashkenazi Torah Judaism. It succeeded ''Agudas Shlumei Emunei Yisroel'' (Union of Faithful Jewr ...
.
Second marriage
After
Sukkos
or ("Booths, Tabernacles")
, observedby = Jews, Samaritans, a few Protestant denominations, Messianic Jews, Semitic Neopagans
, type = Jewish, Samaritan
, begins = 15th day of Tishrei
, ends = 21st day of Tishre ...
1977, Rabbi Gurwicz and his wife were coming back from a visit to their children in
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
when she had a heart attack and died in
Heathrow Airport. She was buried beside her father, Rabbi Elya Lopian, on the
Mount of Olives
The Mount of Olives or Mount Olivet ( he, הַר הַזֵּיתִים, Har ha-Zeitim; ar, جبل الزيتون, Jabal az-Zaytūn; both lit. 'Mount of Olives'; in Arabic also , , 'the Mountain') is a mountain ridge east of and adjacent to Jeru ...
.
Two years later, a shidduch was suggested for him with Malka (Mollie) Isbee (1917–2001),
widow of Jack Isbee of
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
, who had been widowed at the age of 51. They were married for nearly four years, until his death in 1982.
Death and funeral
Rabbi Gurwicz suffered a
stroke on Wednesday morning, 20 October 1982 (3
Cheshvan 5743). Although his doctors said that he could remain in that condition indefinitely, his family and a few students remained by his bedside, where he died later that day.
At the funeral on Thursday, 21 October,
Rabbi Gurwicz's coffin was carried by his past and present pupils through the streets of Gateshead, past the synagogue and kollel. Then the cortege of about 1,000 people made its way to
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
airport, where the coffin was flown to London for further eulogies at the
Stamford Hill
Stamford Hill is an area in Inner London, England, about 5.5 miles north-east of Charing Cross. The neighbourhood is a sub-district of Hackney, the major component of the London Borough of Hackney, and is known for its Hasidic community, the ...
Beth Hamedrash.
The coffin was then flown from
Stansted Airport
London Stansted Airport is a tertiary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England, northeast of Central London.
London Stansted serves over 160 destinations acro ...
to Israel, where a gathering of more than 15,000 people heard eulogies by leading Israeli rabbis in the
Kiryat Mattersdorf neighborhood. Interment took place before the onset of
Shabbat.
He was succeeded as rosh yeshiva by his son, Rabbi
Avrohom Gurwicz.
Works
*''Rashei Shearim'' ( he, ראשי שערים, literally, "Gateshead") (1971) — a compilation of the main lectures which he delivered in the yeshiva.
*''Arza Devei Rav'' ( he, ארזא דבי רב, "Pillar of the
Beth Midrash") (1979) — Talmudic discourses containing hundreds of original Torah thoughts (''chiddushim''). The first word of the title is based on his name, אריה זאב (Aryeh Ze'ev).
*''Meorei Sheorim'' ( he, מאורי שערים, "Illuminating Gates"), a collection of his
mussar and ''hashkafa'' (Jewish philosophy) talks, was published posthumously by his students.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gurwicz, Leib
1906 births
1982 deaths
British people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent
Rosh yeshivas
20th-century English rabbis
People from Molėtai
Polish Haredi rabbis
English Orthodox rabbis
Mir Yeshiva alumni