Chaskel Besser (born Chaskiel Koszycki; February 12, 1923 – February 9, 2010) was an

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 ...

for much of the 20th and early 21st century, and a member of Radomsk Chassidic movement. He lived in

Manhattan, New York Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. He was born in Katowice,

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 lived there until the dual Nazi and Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939. He was affiliated with Congregation B’nai Israel Chaim in New York. His original family name, Koszycki, was changed by his father while the family still lived in Poland. His father, a successful businessman, and close associate of the Radomsker Rebbe, moved to pre-war Palestine. After Besser escaped Poland and Europe in 1939, he was reunited with his family in Tel Aviv. He came to the United States in 1949, together with members of his family. He is the subject of a book written by

Warren Kozak Warren Kozak (born 1951) is an American journalist and author. His writing appears frequently on the OpEd pages of ''The Wall Street Journal'', the ''New York Sun'' and other newspapers and magazines. He was an on-air reporter at National Public ...

called ''The Rabbi of 84th Street''. He appeared in the television program ''The Jews of New York'' talking about the experience of Jews in pre-World War II Germany. Besser was the principal spiritual leader of the renewal of Polish Jewish life, and traveled there frequently to teach until not long before the end of his life. He helped to find Jews and rebuild Jewish life in Poland towards the end of the communist era, partnering with Ronald S. Lauder. This partnership established Besser as the Director of the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation for Poland. He found Rabbi

Michael Schudrich Michael Joseph Schudrich (born June 15, 1955) is an American rabbi and the current Chief Rabbi of Poland. He is the oldest of four children of Rabbi David Schudrich and Doris Goldfarb Schudrich. Biography Born in New York City, Schudrich lived i ...

, currently Chief Rabbi of Poland, to move Poland to establish Jewish communal life, on behalf of the Lauder Foundation. In addition to his work to restore Jewish communal life, he also helped restore many Jewish holy sites in Poland, negotiating with the Polish government on preserving the legacy of Polish Jewry before the war. One of those Jewish cemeteries is in

Oświęcim Oświęcim (; german: Auschwitz ; yi, אָשפּיצין, Oshpitzin) is a city in the Lesser Poland ( pl, Małopolska) province of southern Poland, situated southeast of Katowice, near the confluence of the Vistula (''Wisła'') and Soła rive ...

, where his maternal grandparents are buried. Among his children are Rabbi Shlomo Besser, a rabbi and teacher active for the cemeteries of Eastern Europe and Aliza Grund, President of the women's division of the Agudah. His two other children are Mrs. Debbie Rosenberg of London, England and Rabbi Naftali Besser of Brooklyn, New York. Yisroel Besser, author of ''Warmed By Their Fire'', is his grandson. Rabbi Yonah Bookstein, former Director of The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation in Poland, and currently a rabbi of Pico Shul, is one of his students. In 1992, Besser sent Bookstein to Poland to work at the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation Summer Camp with Rabbi Schudrich.

References

External links

Hasidic Rabbi Haskel Besser
Documentary produced b
The Jews of New YorkRabbi Haskel Besser and Pre-War Germany
Produced b
The Jews of New York
{{DEFAULTSORT:Besser, Chaskel 20th-century American rabbis Polish emigrants to Mandatory Palestine American Hasidic rabbis Polish Hasidic rabbis American people of Polish-Jewish descent People from Katowice 1923 births 2010 deaths Israeli emigrants to the United States