Rabbi Shmuel Dovid Ungar (23 November 1885 – 9 February 1945), also known as Rabbi Samuel David Ungar, was the rabbi of the Hungarian city of Nyitra (now Nitra, Slovakia) and dean of the last surviving
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 s ...
in occupied Europe during World War II. He was the father-in-law of Rabbi
Chaim Michael Dov Weissmandl
Michael Dov Weissmandl ( yi, מיכאל בער ווייסמאנדל) (25 October 190329 November 1957) was an Orthodox rabbi of the Oberlander Jews of present-day western Slovakia. Along with Gisi Fleischmann he was the leader of the Bratislav ...
, and played a minor role in the
Bratislava Working Group
The Working Group ( sk, Pracovná Skupina) was an underground Jewish organization in the Axis-aligned Slovak State during World War II. Led by Gisi Fleischmann and Rabbi Michael Dov Weissmandl, the Working Group rescued Jews from the Holocaust ...
's efforts to save Slovak Jews from the Holocaust.
Early life
Ungar was the only son born to his father, Rabbi Yosef Moshe Ungar (1855–1897), the rabbi of the town of Pöstyén (today: Piešťany). He was a descendant of the Abrabanel. Ungar's father died when he was 11 years old,Project Witness. "Harav Shmuel David Ungar, ''Hy"d'', of Nitra". ''
Hamodia
''Hamodia'' ( he, המודיע – "''the Informer''") is a Hebrew-language daily newspaper published in Jerusalem. A daily English-language edition is also published in the United States, and weekly English-language editions in England and Israe ...
'', 17 March 2011, p. C2. and he became a frequent guest at the home of Rabbi Kalman Weber, who was appointed Rav of Pöstyén in his father's place.
After his bar mitzvah, Shmuel Dovid left home to study at the
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 s ...
in
Prešov
Prešov (, hu, Eperjes, Rusyn language, Rusyn and Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Пряшів) is a city in Eastern Slovakia. It is the seat of administrative Prešov Region ( sk, Prešovský kraj) and Šariš, as well as the historic Sáros Cou ...
, headed by his uncle, Rabbi Noach Baruch Fisher. Later, he studied at the yeshiva in Unsdorf, led by Rabbi Shmuel Rosenberg. He married his first cousin, Miriam Leah Fisher, daughter of Rabbi Noach Baruch.
Rabbi and rosh yeshiva
At the age of 21, Ungar became the Rav of Korompa (today: Krompachy), and founded a yeshiva in that town. Five years later, he was asked to become Rav and Rosh Yeshiva of
Nagyszombat
Trnava (, german: Tyrnau; hu, Nagyszombat, also known by other alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, to the northeast of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of a ''kraj'' (Trnava Region) and of an '' okres'' (Trnav ...
(today: Trnava), an old and well-established Jewish community, which he served for 15 years. It was during this tenure that he became known as one of the leading rabbis of Europe for his erudition and strict adherence to
halakha
''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 commandm ...
. It was also during this time that Rabbi Chaim Michael Dov Weissmandl joined his yeshiva and formed a life-long attachment to him.
In 1931, Ungar was approached by the town of Nitra, which had recently lost its chief rabbi, Rabbi Avraham Aharon Katz, with a request that he head that community. To sweeten the offer, the community promised to help him expand its yeshiva under his leadership. Weissmandl tried to dissuade Ungar from accepting the offer, arguing that it would be a mistake to leave an established community like Trnava for Nitra, which was only about 200 years old and had 3,000 Jews. Ungar, however, said he would go. "My heart tells me that the day will come when there will be no yeshiva anywhere in Slovakia but Nitra, and I want to be there when that happens", he said presciently.
In Nitra, Ungar built up a yeshiva with nearly 300 students that eventually attracted students from Czechoslovakia,
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
,
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
, and
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. He taught in the classic Hungarian style introduced by the
Chasam Sofer
Moses Schreiber (1762–1839), known to his own community and Jewish posterity in the Hebrew translation as Moshe Sofer, also known by his main work ''Chatam Sofer'', ''Chasam Sofer'', or ''Hatam Sofer'' ( trans. ''Seal of the Scribe'', and acron ...
, and although he did not set out to produce rabbis, some of his students did go on to become prominent rabbis in their hometowns. He developed a close and loving relationship with each student, and kept the connection after they left, conducting an alumni re-union every five years. Weissmandl married his Rav's daughter, Bracha Rachel, in 1937, and became Ungar's right-hand man in all aspects of running the yeshiva.
Besides his position as the chief rabbi of Nitra, Ungar was appointed vice president of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah, the supreme religious body of
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 Jewry ...
, in 1935.
World War II
Persecution of Jews began even before World War II in Slovakia, where the
Munich Agreement
The Munich Agreement ( cs, Mnichovská dohoda; sk, Mníchovská dohoda; german: Münchner Abkommen) was an agreement concluded at Munich on 30 September 1938, by Nazi Germany, Germany, the United Kingdom, French Third Republic, France, and Fa ...
of 1938 carved Czechoslovakia into separate states. Slovakia became a totalitarian state run by the Catholic priest
Jozef Tiso
Jozef Gašpar Tiso (; hu, Tiszó József; 13 October 1887 – 18 April 1947) was a Slovak politician and Roman Catholic priest who served as president of the Slovak Republic, a client state of Nazi Germany during World War II, from 1939 to 194 ...
, who allied with Nazi Germany and supported discrimination against his country's Jews. In 1942,
deportation
Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...
s from Slovakia to
Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
, via
Lublin
Lublin is the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the center of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin is the largest Polish city east of t ...
, began. The first Jews were forced to leave Nitra on the
Shabbat
Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...
after
Passover
Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday that celebrates the The Exodus, Biblical story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Ancient Egypt, Egypt, which occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew calendar, He ...
.
Ungar could have left Slovakia to save his life, but he refused to desert his community and his yeshiva. Defying a Nazi order to remain at home on that first day of deportations, Ungar walked to the
synagogue
A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...
to spend the third meal of Shabbat with his flock.
After 58,000 Jews had been expelled from Slovakia, Weissmandl, in conjunction with the
Working Group
A working group, or working party, is a group of experts working together to achieve specified goals. The groups are domain-specific and focus on discussion or activity around a specific subject area. The term can sometimes refer to an interdis ...
that he and other activists had established to try to save Slovak Jews, attempted one of the most ambitious rescue schemes of 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 ...
. With a $50,000 bribe to
Dieter Wisliceny
Dieter Wisliceny (13 January 1911 – 4 May 1948) was a member of the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) and one of the deputies of Adolf Eichmann, helping to organise and coordinate the wide scale deportations of the Jews across Europe during the Holocaust.
...
bimah and above bookcases in its study hall, in the event of Nazi raids. Often, the warning came at such short notice that
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 ...
s would be left lying open on the tables as everyone fled and hid. Despite these disruptions, Ungar continued to teach and give weekly examinations as usual.
In hiding
In August 1944, the Nazis crushed a revolt by
Slovak partisans
Slovak partisans were fighters in irregular military groups participating in the Slovak resistance movement, including against Nazi Germany and collaborationism during World War II.
Beginning
Slovak partisans were an anti-fascist militia forme ...
who had never supported Slovakia's Nazi regime, and the German army entered and occupied the country -- this is the first time they entered Slovaki. Deportations of Jews to Auschwitz resumed in greater intensity than before. The Nitra Yeshiva was liquidated on September 5, 1944. By September 17, every remaining Jew in Nitra had been deported.
Ungar and one of his sons, Sholom Moshe, together with Rabbi Meir Eisler, had been vacationing in the forests of the Zobor Mountain near Nitra. When they heard that the yeshiva had been liquidated, they did not return to Nitra. They made their way to Bistritz, which was under partisan control, but when the Germans attacked that city the following month, they fled and spent the winter hiding in mountain caves and subsisting on starvation rations. Ungar kept a diary in which he recorded his travails and prepared his spiritual will.
Throughout that winter of hiding in the forest, Ungar scrupulously observed
Jewish law
''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Judaism, Jewish religious laws which is derived from the Torah, written and Oral Tora ...
, even though he was starving to death. He refused to eat bread or milk obtained from Gentiles, or to even eat bread if there was no water for ritual hand-washing. On one occasion, he received some grapes, but would not eat them immediately; he insisted on saving them to eat on the
Sabbath
In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, commanded by God to be kept as a holy day of rest, as G ...
. While terror and fear were others' constant companions, he was concerned with how to fulfill the
mitzvah
In its primary meaning, the Hebrew word (; he, מִצְוָה, ''mīṣvā'' , plural ''mīṣvōt'' ; "commandment") refers to a commandment commanded by God to be performed as a religious duty. Jewish law () in large part consists of discus ...
of hearing the
shofar
A shofar ( ; from he, שׁוֹפָר, ) is an ancient musical horn typically made of a ram's horn, used for Jewish religious purposes. Like the modern bugle, the shofar lacks pitch-altering devices, with all pitch control done by varying the ...
blasts on
Rosh Hashanah
Rosh HaShanah ( he, רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה, , literally "head of the year") is the Jewish New Year. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (, , lit. "day of shouting/blasting") It is the first of the Jewish High Holy Days (, , " ...
.
Ungar died of starvation on 9 February 1945 (8
Adar
Adar ( he, אֲדָר ; from Akkadian ''adaru'') is the sixth month of the civil year and the twelfth month of the religious year on the Hebrew calendar, roughly corresponding to the month of March in the Gregorian calendar. It is a month of 29 d ...
5705 according to the Hebrew calendar). He instructed his son where and how to bury him, said his last
confession
A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of persons – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information th ...
(''viduy''), and died. After the war, his son re-interred him in Piešťany, his birthplace, next to the grave of his father.
Legacy
Two of Ungar's sons, Sholom Moshe (1916–2003) and Yaakov Yitzchak, and a daughter, Chaya Nechama, survived the war. (Chaya Nechama later married Rabbi
Yekusiel Yehudah Halberstam
Yekusiel Yehudah Halberstam (January 10, 1905 – June 18, 1994) was an Orthodox rabbi and the founding rebbe of the Sanz-Klausenburg Hasidic dynasty.
Halberstam was one of the youngest rebbes in Europe, leading thousands of followers in the t ...
, the Klausenberger Rebbe, in America in 1947.Landesman, Yeruchem. ''The Wedding that Changed Despair to Hope''. ''
Mishpacha
''Mishpacha'' ( he, משפחה, : Family) - Jewish Family Weekly is a Haredi weekly magazine package produced by The Mishpacha Group in both English and Hebrew.
History
The Mishpacha Publishing Group was founded in 1984 with the publication of ...
'', 11 November 2009, pp. 30–34.) Another son, Benzion, the Rav of Piešťany, was taken to a prison camp in
Sereď
Sereď (; hu, Szered ) is a town in southern Slovakia near Trnava, on the right bank of the Váh River on the Danubian Lowland. It has approximately 15,500 inhabitants.
Geography
Sereď lies at an altitude of above mean sea level, above sea l ...
, where he was murdered by Slovak military police. Ungar's rebbetzin, Miriam Leah, was also murdered, together with many other family members. Ungar's son-in-law, Chaim Michael Dov Weissmandl, survived the war.
Ungar's
Torah
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...
writings were saved by a Gentile woman who gave them to Ungar's son, Sholom Moshe, after the war. These were published under the title ''Ne'os Desheh'' ("Lush meadows", a line from
Psalm 23
Psalm 23 is the 23rd psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "The Lord is my shepherd". In Latin, it is known by the incipit, "". The Book of Psalms is part of the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and a boo ...
; the second word in
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
, דשא, contains his initials, שמואל דוד אונגר).
After the war, Rabbi Sholom Moshe Ungar was named Rav of Nitra by the survivors of that city, and re-opened the Nitra Yeshiva. In 1946, he and his brother-in-law, Rabbi Weissmandl, moved the Nitra Yeshiva to
. In 1948, the yeshiva was moved again to its present site in
Mount Kisco, New York
Mount Kisco is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village and Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The town of Mount Kisco is coterminous municipality, coterminous with the vil ...
. See Yeshiva of Nitra.
Rabbi Sholom Moshe Ungar's son, Rabbi Shmuel Dovid Ungar (named after his grandfather), is the current Nitra Rav and Rosh Yeshiva. Today, the Nitra community has branches in
Boro Park
Borough Park (also spelled Boro Park) is a neighborhood in the southwestern part of the borough of Brooklyn, in New York City. The neighborhood is bordered by Bensonhurst to the south, Dyker Heights to the southwest, Sunset Park to the west, ...
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
,
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 ...