Shmaryahu Yosef Nissim Karelitz ( he, נסים קרליץ; July 19, 1926 – October 21, 2019) was an Orthodox Jewish rabbi and posek who served as the chairman of the ''

beis din 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 ...

tzedek'' (rabbinical court) of

Bnei Brak Bnei Brak or Bene Beraq ( he, בְּנֵי בְּרַק ) is a city located on the central Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean Israeli coastal plain, coastal plain in Israel, just east of Tel Aviv. A center of Haredi Judaism, Bnei Brak covers an are ...

Biography

Karelitz was born in 1926 in Kosava (Kossov), Vilnius province, Poland, presently in Belarus. He came to Israel in 1935 with his parents. Karelitz was a nephew of Rabbi Avrohom Yeshaya Karelitz, known as the ''Chazon Ish''. (The latter's sister was Karelitz's mother). The ''Chazon Ish'' was a previous rabbinical spiritual leader of

. From the time of the ''Chazon Ish'' until Karelitz it was Rav Elazar Shach who was regarded as the pre-eminent leader. In his youth, he studied in the Ponevezh Yeshiva. He also studied with his uncles, the ''Chazon Ish'' and the ''

Steipler Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky ( he, יעקב ישראל קַנִיֶּבְסְקִי), known as The Steipler or The Steipler Gaon (1899– 10 August 1985), was an ultra-Orthodox rabbi, Talmudic scholar, and '' posek'' ("decisor" of Jewish law) ...

''. His wife Leah (d. 2015) was the daughter of Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Kopshitz of Jerusalem and the great-granddaughter of Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld. Rav Karelitz died in Bnei Brak on October 21, 2019. His funeral was attended by tens of thousands, and he was eulogized by Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, his first cousin, and by Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, Rosh Yeshiva of Ponevezh.

Rabbinic career

His rabbinical court handled various matters, including financial disputes, marriage conflicts, and conversions. He was also a member of the ''Vaad Halacha'' (Jewish legal council) of the Maayanei Hayeshua Hospital of Bnei Brak and the ''

av beis din The ''av beit din'' ( ''ʾabh bêth dîn'', "chief of the court" or "chief justice"), also spelled ''av beis din'' or ''abh beth din'' and abbreviated ABD (), was the second-highest-ranking member of the Sanhedrin during the Second Temple period, ...

'' of the Bnei Brak neighborhood of

Ramat Aharon Ramat Aharon ( he, רׇמַת אַהֲרֹן) is a neighbourhood in the eastern part of Bnei Brak, Israel. The neighbourhood was established in 1967 and was named after Rabbi Aharon Kotler.English language description on plaque in the neighbourhoo ...

. Karelitz's ''beit din'' in Israel performs conversions on people who are residing illegally in the state of Israel. This means several things: (1) The conversion process goes against Israeli law which gives the state more reason to reject such conversions. (2) The converts, who often live many years illegally in Israel, are eventually forced to leave (deportation, or due to lack of financial means to support oneself).

Published works

''Chut Shani''

Hilchos Shabbos Vol. 1Hilchos Shabbos Vol. 3Hilchos Yom TovHilchos PesachHilchos NiddahHilchos RibbisEven Ha'ezer Siman 21
Hilchos Shmita ViYovel Vol. 1-2

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karelitz, Nissim Haredi rabbis in Israel 1926 births 2019 deaths Lithuanian Haredi rabbis Lithuanian emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Rabbis in Bnei Brak