Between the years 1961 and 1969, Mossad Harav Kook published four volumes of “Seridei Esh” — responsa, novellae, articles, studies and essays – by Rabbi Yehiel Yaakov Weinberg, who was one of the most prominent rabbis of our time. He died in Montreux, Switzerland, in 1966 at the age of 81.
Last summer, a large volume of Rabbi Weinberg’s novellae on the Talmud was published in Jerusalem It was soon sold out. A short time ago a new revised and enlarged edition appeared.
The volume, which was edited by Rabbi Abraham Abba Weingort, who had the privilege of studying with Rabbi Weinberg during the last years of the latter’s life features a long introduction describing the life, personality and method of study of Rabbi Weinberg.
Rabbi Weinberg, who was born in Lithuania, studied at the Yeshivas of Mir and Slobodka. At the latter, where before long he became known as one of the most outstanding students, he was a favorite pupil of Rabbi Nathan Zvi Finkel, the “Alter” of Slabodka. Rabbi Nathan Zvi Finkel sent Rabbi Weinberg to Mir to help his son, Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel, introduce into that Yeshiva the study of Mussar.
Rabbi Weinberg was ordained by Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Rabinowitz of Kovno, Rabbi Moshe Danishevksy of Slobodka, Rabbi Eliya Baruch Kamai of Mir and Rabbi Eliezer Rabinowitz of Minsk. In 1906 he was appointed rabbi of Pilwishki (Lithuania). He organized there a group of Torah scholars who, under his leadership, devoted themselves to the study of Talmud. Rabbi Weinberger became, henceforth known in the rabbinic world a the Ilui of Pilwishki or Rov of Pilwishki.
During World War I, he studied at the University of Giessen, Germany, where he received a doctorate for his thesis on the Masorah. He also taught at this university.
In the summer of 1914, Rabbi Abraham Yitzchok HaCohen Kook visited Germany in order to attend an international conference in Frankfurt on the Main, convened by Agudat Israel. The conference was canceled on account of the outbreak of World War I. Rabbi Kook was stranded in Europe, staying in Switzerland until 1916 when he received a call from the Mahzikei HaDat congregation in London.
A short time ago, I visited Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch in Jerusalem. He told me what he had heard from Rabbi Weinberg about his meeting with Rabbi Kook in Germany in the summer of 1914. Rabbi Weinberg explained to Rabbi Kook his precarious situation in Germany as an enemy alien (he was a Russian national). Rabbi Kook thereupon presented him with his watch, which he would be able to sell in case he was in need of money. Rabbi Weinberg refused to take the watch, but Rabbi Kook insisted that he take it. The watch was, indeed of great help to Rabbi Weinberg, who was forever grateful to Rabbi Kook (a slightly different version of this story is found in Simcha Raz’ book about Rabbi Kook).
After the death of Rabbi Avraham Eliyahu Kaplan in 1924, Rabbi Weinberg was appointed in his place as lecturer in Talmud and Halakha at the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin. Later he became rector of that institution, serving in that capacity until its closure following the Kristallnacht pogroms of November 1938.
As one of the leading rabbinic authorities in Germany, Rabbi Weinberg occupied himself with the solution of modern Halakhic problems, especially those created by the rise to power of the Nazis. He corresponded with Eastern Europe’s great rabbinical leaders, all of whom held him in the highest esteem.
Rabbi Weinberg fell ill in 1939. Two of his students accompanied him to Kovno. Despite the treatment he received, his state of health did not improve and for several months he was confined to his bed. At the advice of the doctors he was brought to Warsaw to seek the help of specialists. He arrived in the Polish capital 3-4 weeks before the outbreak of World War II.
(Continued next week)
The Jewish Press, Friday May 3, 1996
Continued from last week
The outbreak of World War II, caught Rabbi Weinberg in Warsaw. He was in the city when it was occupied by the Germans and was still there when the Jews were forced into a Ghetto.
.Rabbi Weinberg had been a Russian national until the end of World War I. After his native Lithuania gained independence, he became a subject of the new state. During World War II, when the Soviet Union occupied the Baltic countries, he again became a Russian national and as such — Germany being at the time on very friendly terms with the Soviet Union, he was not exposed to all the indignities and persecutions, which were the lot of Warsaw’s Jews.
As soon as he had recuperated somewhat from his illness, he began to devote himself to helping his fellow Jews. He was chosen head of the Agudat HaRabbanim of Warsaw. Making use of his wide connections abroad, he arranged for the sending of money and food to the ghetto. The food was distributed to rabbis, roshei Yeshiva, Torah scholars and to Yeshiva and and Talmud Torah students.
Following Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union, Weinberg was arrested as an enemy alien. For two weeks he was held in a Warsaw prison. Subsequently he was transferred to a camp for Russian prisoners at a fortress near Weissenburg in Bavaria. Surviving the harsh regime of the camp, he was liberated by the U.S. army close to the end of the war.
American-Jewish officers and soldiers placed him, as well as other liberated Jews, in spacious rooms in Weissenburg and provided them with all necessities. However, because of his precarious state of health, he had to be sent to a hospital in Nuremburg where he remained for nine months
(About the wretched state of Rabbi Weinberg during the time of his liberation, I was told by my friend, the late Paul Freedman, who was one of the U.S. soldiers who liberated him.)
As a result of endeavors of friends in Switzerland, especially, Rabbi Shaul Weingort and by the directors of the Joint in Munich, Rabbi Weinberg was brought from Munich to Montreux, Switzerland where his medical treatment was continued.
In Montreux he was taken care of by Rabbi Shaul Weingort. Weingort, the scion of a well known Hassidic family had been a very close student of Rabbi Weinberg at the Hildesheimer Rabbinical School in Berlin. Before the war, Rabbi Eliyahu Botschko, head of the Yeshiva of Etz Chaim in Montreux had asked him to help him find a suitable husband for his daughter. Rabbi Weinberg recommended Shaul Weingort. The latter married Botschko’s daughter and settled in Switzerland. He taught at the yeshiva in Montreux and during World War II, assisted the Sternbuchs — to who he was related through his wife- in their efforts to rescue Jews from the German hell.
Rabbi Weinberg resided for twenty years in Montreux until his death in 1966. He gradually regained his health and before long his named reverberated throughout the Torah world. Halakhic enquiries were addressed to him from various quarters, he contributed to a number of Torah journals and corresponded with leading Torah authorities. In 1961-1969, as mentioned earlier, Mossad HaRav Kook published four volumes of his writings(“Seridei Esh”). They include not only responsa, Hiddushim and studies but also his brilliant essays about the leaders of the Mussar movement and about Rabbi Shamson Rephael Hirsch.
Rabbi Shaul Weingort did not live to see the full reemergence of his teacher as one of the giants of the world. He died in a tragic accident in Montreux at the end of the summer of 1946, leaving a young widow, two little daughters and a son.
In Yad Shaul, a volume in memory of Rabbi Shaul Weingort, which he published together with Rabbi Pinhas Biberfeld, Rabbi Weinberg describes the life and personality of his beloved and outstanding student. He also wrote about Rabbi Weingort’s parents and other members of that family which he knew and who had been of great help to him during his stay in Poland
When Rabbi Weingort’s baby boy, Avraham Abba grew up, Rabbi Weinberg took him under his wings and studied Torah with him several hours a day.
Rabbi Avraham Abba Weingrot is the editor of Rabbi Weinberg’s volume of novellae on the Talmud which appeared some time ago and is the subject of this article
(To be continued)
The Jewish Press, Friday, May 10, 1996
Continued from last week
Almost 20 pages of the introduction are devoted to a description of Rabbi Weinberg’s method of study.
In the beginning of this section, Rabbi Avraham Abba Weingort relates that when he visited in 1964, the late Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel, Rosh Yeshiva of the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem, on behalf of Rabbi Weinberg, Rabbi Finkel told him, “You should know, Rabbi Weinberg is not only the Godol of this generation but of many generations. That same day Rabbi Weingort visited the Rabbi of Tchibin, Rabbi Dov Berish Weidenfeld, who praised Rabbi Weinberg in similar terms.
Rabbi Weingort writes that he does not pretend to “define” Rabbi Weinberg’s method, all he wants to do is present us with a short, general characterization of Rabbi Weinberg’s way of study.
He quotes from a responsum by Rabbi Weinberg in which the latter replies to a correspondent who had criticized him for having expressed views which diverge or even contradict those of the most eminent latter authorities such as the Pnei Yehoshua and Rabbi Akiva Eger.
Rabbi Weinberg wrote: “So what? Isn’t this the way of Torah, Lefalpel, to discuss and argue and lehadesh to create new explanations and theories, even if they don’t diverge from those of the leading Aharonim? Only in matters of practical Halakha are we not permitted to ignore the views of our geonim, but with regard to theories and new explanations, we are free to do so and devise interpretations of our own.
Rabbi Weingort points out that Rabbi Weinberg who was an ardent adherent of pilpul, which leads us to a correct and deeper understanding of matters, was at the same time an exponent of those who seek the plain Peshat. He searched eagerly for variant readings, when such could be of help in unlocking a difficult text.
Most of Rabbi Weinberg’s manuscripts were lost during World War II, including three volumes of lectures and explanations of Talmudic Sugyot, which were ready for print. The loss caused him much grief and he wanted, after the war, to rewrite these books. He was not able to do so. He turned therefore to his former students- living in different countries and serving in various positions, as rabbis, communal leaders etc. — to send him notes of the lectures he delivered at the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary, which they might have in their possession. He received some material, but his various preoccupations, principally his writing of responsa to people who turned to him for Halakhic guidance, prevented him from compiling and publishing a special volume of his novellae on the Talmud.
After his death, Rabbi Avraham Abba Weingort felt duty bound to realize the great wish of his mentor– to put out a volume of his Hiddushim. For years he immersed himself in the study of Rabbi Weinberg’s writings, poring over the notebooks he had left behind, over the notes of his students and over his own notes of the master’s teachings, as well as over Rabbi Weinberg’s printed books and articles, culling from the the material suitable for inclusion in the projected volume.
To be continued
The Jewish Press, Friday, May 17,1996
Conclusion
The finished product before us, a large volume of 650 pages features Hiddushim by Rabbi Weinberg on Sugyot in the tractates of Eruvin, Pesahim, Gittin, Kiddushin, Yevamot, Kethubbot, Bava Metzia, Sanhedrin and Makkot. They are accompanied by Gahalei Esh, comments by the editor.
Letters written by and to Rabbi Weinberg are reproduced in special appendixes at the end of the volume.
Rabbi Avraham Abba Weingort plans to publish an additional volume and he appeals to the readers to send him any writings of Rabbi Weinberg they may have or information about any that they are aware of.
The editor’s long introduction to the volume is interspersed with little anecdotes about and sayings by Rabbi Weinberg, which illuminate his personality. Some of these I will cite here.
Rabbi Weingort remembers on on every festival at the time of Yizkor, Rabbi Weinberg prayed – in the small shtiebel of Montreux, where he attended services – for the souls of the prominent and sainted rabbis who perished during the Holocaust, among them, Rabbi Elhanan Wasserman, Rabbi Menahem Ziemba and others. He called out in a loud voice their names and the names of their fathers and asked the Ba’al Tefilla to repeat them after him.
“After his death, when I looked through his papers, I found tens of letters by Roshei Yeshiva, Torah institutions as well as from ordinary Jews thanking him for the great assistance he had rendered them in various fields from his place of residence in Montreux,” Rabbi Weingort writes. “We, who were in daily contact with him, didn’t know anything about these.”
He expressed his positive attitude towards Hasidism in a letter addressed to Rabbi Shemuel Yaakov Rubinstein of Paris, printed in the latter’s Sheerith Menaheim: “Though I grew up among the Jews of Lithuania and was privileged to be a student of the most prominent Geonim who opened new ways for the understanding of the Talmud…. I have been since my youth, as if my magic, attracted to Hasidic literature. My soul delights whenever i study it… What the Geonim of Lithuania did for the advancement of the love and study of the Torah, the leaders of Hasidism did for the strengthening of the religious faith and ardor in Israel. Whose soul longs for the hidden light of the Torah and commandments, can quench his thirst only at the wellsprings of Hasidism. The opposition to Hassidism has ceased and disappeared. All know that Hasidism serves as a shield against the foreign cultures, which undermine the foundations of Judaism.”
Rabbi Weinberg died, as mentioned earlier, in 1966 in Montreux and was buried in Israel.
When the news of the death of Rabbi Weinberg reached Rabbi Yehezkel Sarna, the Rosh Yeshiva of the Hevron Yeshiva in Jerusalem, he told his students that Rabbi Weinberg had been the “lion” of the great Lomdim at the Yeshiva of Slobodka.
Arrangements had been made for the burial of Rabbi Weinberg at the Sanhedria cemetery in Jerusalem, but Rabbi Sarna very much wished that the deceased be interred on Har Hamenuhot near Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel, Rosh Yeshiva of Mir, with whom he had studied in his youth. He was even ready to put the plot he had acquired for himself at the disposal of Rabbi Weinberg. When Rabbi Sarna realized that he could not change the prior burial arrangements,, he decided to take matters in his own hands. Though he was very sick, he attended the funeral and with a stick in his hands ordered his students to ‘take over’ the coffin and bring it to Har Hamenuhot. Rabbi Yehuda Assaf, head of the Maimonides Research Institute of Haifa, who was then a student at the Hevron Yeshiva told me: “When the funeral procession passed through Jaffa Street, Rabbi Sarna, who had been told by his doctor to remain in bed, appeared at the cortege and ordered us not to continue to the Sanhedrin cemetery, but to proceed with the coffin to Har HaMenuhot.”
Rabbi Weinberg was buried on Har HaMenuhot near the tomb of Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel in the plot which Rabbi Sarna had acquired for himself.
Rabbi Sarna died the following year. He was brought to rest on the newly liberated Mount of Olives at the side of his father-in-law, Rabbi Moshe Mordecai Epstein.
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The volume of Rabbi Weinberg’s novellae on the Talmud is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Mordechai (Marcus) Cohn– son of Dr. Rabbi Asher Michael (Arthur) Cohn, rabbi of Basle– who was a great friend of Rabbi Weinberg and helped bring him to Switzerland after World War II.
Mordecai Cohn, who was an attorney, was a leader of Swiss Jewry. During World War II, he and his wife engaged in rescue acitivites.
Towards the end of his life he settled in Jerusalem, where he served as advisor on Jewish law, a field in which he wrote much.
Members of the Cohn family, all friends and admirers of Rabbi Weinberg, financed the publication of the volume.
The Jewish Press, May 24, 1996