Chaim Yehuda Leib Auerbach
Rabbi Chaim Yehuda Leib Auerbach | |
|---|---|
| Personal | |
| Born | Chaim Yehuda Leib Auerbach 1883 |
| Died | 26 September 1954 (age 70-71) |
| Religion | Judaism |
| Spouse | Tzivia Porush |
| Children | Shlomo Zalman Avraham Dov Eliezer Refoel Dovid Leah (wife of Shalom Schwadron) Malka Rochel |
| Parent |
|
| Position | Rosh yeshiva |
| Yeshiva | Shaar Hashamayim Yeshiva |
| Began | 1906 |
| Ended | 1954 |
| Buried | Har HaMenuchot |
| Residence | Jerusalem |
Chaim Yehuda Leib Auerbach (Hebrew: חיים יהודה לייב אוירבך; 1883 – 26 September 1954) was a haredi rabbi and rosh yeshiva (dean) of Shaar Hashamayim Yeshiva in Jerusalem, which he helped found in 1906. He was the father of the posek (decider of Jewish legal issues) Shlomo Zalman Auerbach.
Biography
[edit]Rabbi Auerbach was a seventh-generation descendant of Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polonne,[1] a disciple of the Baal Shem Tov. His father, Rabbi Avraham Dov Auerbach, served as the rabbi of Chernivtsi for over thirty years. His mother, Rachel (née Moshley), was the sister of Zerach Alter Moshley, one of the founders of the Neve Tzedek neighborhood.[2]
He was educated in Jerusalem yeshivas and received rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Chaim Berlin at the age of 18.[3] After his marriage to Tzivia, daughter of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Porush, a builder and leader of the New Yishuv in Jerusalem and sister of Naftali Tzvi Porush-Glickman, he began studying Kabbalah under Rabbi Shimon Tzvi Horowitz. In 1906, he co-founded the Shaar Hashamayim Yeshiva for Kabbalists in Jerusalem alongside Rabbi Horowitz. Despite being under 20 at its founding, he served as Rabbi Horowitz's partner. He devoted his life to establishing the yeshiva, stating:
"All my life, every fiber of my soul is tied to it. It is my utmost hope to see it elevated as a radiant beacon of Torah learning in the Holy Land."
The yeshiva soon became the central institution for Ashkenazi Kabbalistic study in Jerusalem and remains one of the few such yeshivas today.
In 1916, during World War I, Rabbi Auerbach was appointed vice-consul of Iran, a role he used to protect the Jews of the region from Ottoman oppression by providing them with Iranian passports. When this was discovered by the Ottoman authorities, he was sentenced to death in absentia. Shortly before the sentence was to be carried out, a Turkish informant warned him, forcing Rabbi Auerbach into hiding for several months. During his concealment, he studied with a student and wrote much of what would later be published in his book Lev Chacham. After the Ottoman rule in Jerusalem ended, he emerged from hiding.[4]
After World War I, Rabbi Auerbach was a member of the first Assembly of Representatives and one of the founders of the "Torah Institution" initiative. He was also a member of the executive committee. Associated with the Mizrachi movement, he participated in its conferences and assemblies.[5]
Rabbi Auerbach was one of the members of the Old Yishuv who expressed conditional support for Zionism and aliyah while maintaining connections with both Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook and Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld. At the circumcision of his son, Rabbi Avraham Dov Auerbach, Rabbi Sonnenfeld acted as mohel while Rabbi Kook served as the sandek.
Rabbi Auerbach passed away in Jerusalem on 28 Elul 1954, after a prolonged illness, at the age of 67.[6][7]
Shaar Hashamayim Yeshiva
[edit]In 1928, he founded the "Shaar Hashamayim" Talmud Torah for Sephardi children and established a kollel adjacent to the yeshiva for in-depth Torah study. In 1931, he traveled to the United States to raise funds for the yeshiva, which was on the brink of bankruptcy. This trip lasted over two years. Auerbach and his friend Shimon Tzvi Horowitz opened the yeshiva for the study of the kabbalah as interpreted by the 16th century rabbi Isaac Luria[8] in the Old City of Jerusalem, with a Talmud Torah, a yeshiva ketana, a yeshiva gedola, and a kollel for married students.[8][9]
Children
[edit]- Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach – Considered one of the greatest halachic authorities of recent generations. He deliberately avoided incorporating references to Kabbalah in his rulings, in contrast to the focus of his father.
- Rabbi Eliezer Auerbach – Rosh Yeshiva of the Shaar Hashamayim Kabbalists Yeshiva.
- Rabbi Avraham Dov Auerbach – Rabbi of the Baka neighborhood in Jerusalem and Rosh Yeshiva of Ohr Sameach Yeshiva. He authored the book Imrei Avraham.
- Rabbi Raphael Dovid Auerbach – Administrator of the Shaar Hashamayim Kabbalists Yeshiva.
- His daughter Leah married Rabbi Sholom Shvadron, known as "The Jerusalem Maggid."
- His daughter Rachel married Rabbi Simcha Bunim Leizerzon, one of the heads of the Sfas Emes Yeshiva in Jerusalem, who passed away at age 27. He was the father of Avraham Yosef Leizerzon.
- His daughter Malka married Rabbi Avraham Horowitz, a disciple of the Chazon Ish and Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky. He authored the books Divrei Halacha and Orchos Rabbeinu.
- His daughter Sarah Hinda (passed away in 5773) married Rabbi Moshe Meir Prag, head of the Shomrei HaChomos Kollel.
Works
[edit]- Authored a halachic work on the laws of marriage in the Shulchan Aruch, section Even HaEzer – Chacham Lev: On Shulchan Aruch Even HaEzer... The main text is a summary of halachic rulings by the genius R. Shlomo of Chelm, author of Merkavas HaMishneh... Surrounding it are novel insights and explanations... At the end are two appendices: one on the laws of mikvaot and another on the laws of chazakah in commandments and communal appointments in Israel, Jerusalem, 5687.
- A halachic pamphlet is included in his son's work Maadanei Eretz under the title Mili d’Abba.
- Articles in Torah journals such as Azkara and Sinai.
- In his later years, he began preparing hundreds of responsa for all four sections of the Shulchan Aruch for publication but did not complete the work.
Further reading
[edit]- "Auerbach, Chaim Yehuda Leib," in: David Klay, Sefer HaIshiyim: Lexicon of Eretz Yisrael, Tel Aviv: Masada – General Encyclopedia, 5697, p. 26. [1]
- Meir, Jonatan. "The Imagined Decline of Kabbalah: The Kabbalistic Yeshiva Sha'ar ha-Shamayim and Kabbalah in Jerusalem in the Beginning of the Twentieth Century" in Kabbalah and Modernity. Boaz Huss, Marco Pasi, and Kocku von Stuckrad, eds. Brill: Leiden & Boston, 2010, pp. 197–220.
References
[edit]- ^ His father, Rabbi Avraham Dov Auerbach of Chernivtsi, was the son of Rabbi Yehuda Dovid Auerbach, who was the son of Rabbi Yoel Feivel Shtain, the son-in-law of Rabbi Dovid Auerbach of Berdychiv-Tiberias, who in turn was the son of Rabbi Avraham Dov of Chmielnik. Rabbi Avraham Dov married the daughter of Rabbi Yaakov Yosef. However, according to other sources, such as Rachil Auerbach, Rabbi Avraham Dov of Chmielnik was married to the orphaned granddaughter of Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, who was raised in his household.
- ^ See: TOLDOT Family History Blog, March 9, 2013.
- ^ Encyclopedia of Religious Zionism, Vol. 1, p. 46.
- ^ Encyclopedia of Religious Zionism, Vol. 1, p. 46.
- ^ Encyclopedia of Religious Zionism, Vol. 1, p. 47.
- ^ Rabbi Chaim Leib Auerbach Z"L, HaTzofe, September 27, 1954, p. 16.
- ^ Gravez database, ID: 4322C4AB-12BE-4CC8-AC86-E332130B2845.
- ^ a b Rossoff, Dovid (2005). קדושים אשר בארץ: קברי צדיקים בירושלים ובני ברק [The Holy Ones in the Earth: Graves of the Righteous in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak] (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: Machon Otzar HaTorah. p. 425.
- ^ Rossoff, Dovid (2005). קדושים אשר בארץ: קברי צדיקים בירושלים ובני ברק [The Holy Ones in the Earth: Graves of the Righteous in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak] (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: Machon Otzar HaTorah. p. 425.
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