Menachem Ziemba
Encyclopedia
Rabbi Menachem Ziemba (Hebrew: מנחם זמבה) was a distinguished pre-World War II
Rabbi, known as a Talmud
ic genius and prodigy
. He was gunned down by the Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto
.
, a suburb of Warsaw
, in 1883. His father, Elazar, died while Menachem was still a young boy and the orphan was brought up by his grandfather Rabbi Avraham Ziemba. Rabbi Avraham had been a chassid of the Kotzker Rebbe and a student of the Chiddushei Harim, and was now a follower of the Sfas Emes
of Gur
.
Rabbi Ziemba was brought up in the Gerrer chasidus
by his grandfather and remained a loyal chasid his entire life. Even years later when he was world-renowned as a Torah
scholar, Posek
and master of Hasidic thought, he still considered himself a simple Chasid of the rebbe
of Ger. When he visited Ger, he was called by his first name and refused to sit at the Rebbe's top table, an honour reserved for visitors of note.
As Rabbi Ziemba grew up in Warsaw, he gained a reputation as a formidable Talmid Chacham (scholar) and dazzling genius. He maintained a unique correspondence with the Gaon of Rogatchov
, a fiery individual not known for his tolerance of mediocrity, nor tolerance of younger students.
At the age of eighteen, Rabbi Ziemba married the daughter of a wealthy local merchant. He was thus able to learn Torah unhindered for the next twenty years, a time remembered by him as the happiest years of his life. His fame spread further afield, attracting the attention of Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk
and others. He once confided that he authored more than 10,000 pages of Torah novellae during this golden period.
When his father-in-law died, Rabbi Ziemba found it necessary to help out in the former's store in order to continue supporting his family. He rejected numerous offers to serve as rabbi
in many towns and cities, saying that he had more time to study while working than as a communal rabbi.
However, at the request of his beloved Gerrer Rebbe
, Rabbi Ziemba entered communal affairs. He was appointed the representative of Praga to the Kehilla
Council in Warsaw. Between 1930 and 1935, the world economic depression
affected Rabbi Ziemba. His store was forced to close. He was offered the prestigious position of Chief Rabbi
of Jerusalem, but turned it down. After the untimely death of Rabbi Meir Shapiro
, Rabbi Ziemba was offered the position as his successor as both Rabbi of Lublin
and rosh yeshiva
of Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin
. For unknown reasons, this never came to pass.
In 1935 he, together with Rabbi Yaakov Myer Biderman, brother-in-law of the Gerrer Rebbe, and Rabbi Avraham Weinberg, was appointed to the Warsaw Rabbinate, becoming one of the foremost spokesmen for Orthodox Jewry
in Poland
. Aside from his newfound political prominence, Rabbi Ziemba became a Halachic decisor of great importance, answering questions from around the world, as well as from Poland.
Rabbi Ziemba also took an active role in the Agudas Yisroel
at an early stage. At its first Knessia Gedola (great gathering), he was not yet forty when chosen to serve as honorary secretary in the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah
. At the second Knessia Gedola, Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzenski agreed to serve as chairman of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah only if Rabbi Ziemba would continue in his position, while the forty-five year old Rabbi Ziemba felt himself to be too young and sought to stay in the background. At the third Knessiah Gedolah in 1937 in Marienbad, Austria
, which played witness to the last massive gathering of European Orthodoxy before the Holocaust
, Rabbi Ziemba was at the height of his fame. He spoke twice to the full assemblage and each time was greeted with hushed silence and awe.
, Rabbi Ziemba became the single most important force in the Warsaw Ghetto. In the darkest days of despair, he was a source of hope, optimism and inspiration. He set up secret locations for the study of Torah, and at great personal risk, constantly visited these clandestine places to strengthen those who studied there. His wife died in the ghetto.
Rabbi Ziemba was given two opportunities to escape from the ghetto. Through the efforts of Chaim Israel and the Sternbuch family of Switzerland
, he was sent a Costa Rica
n passport and citizenship papers. His last name, however, was misspelled - Ziember instead of Ziemba. This was enough excuse for his papers to be declared void.
In another incident, Rabbi Ziemba, along with the other two surviving members of the Warsaw Rabbinate, Rabbi Shimshon Sztokhamer and Rabbi David Shapiro, were suddenly summoned to the Judenrat
. They were told that the Catholic Church was willing to rescue them. The three refused to go, saying that the existence of the Rabbinate gave Jews strength to carry on, although such a formality was no longer needed.
Rabbi Ziemba established a committee to provide Pesach supplies for the Ghetto inhabitants. He was under constant surveillance by the authorities, and as such, could not become personally involved with the Ghetto underground. However, when money was needed to obtain ammunition, he was the first to donate, and added personal blessings to this resistance movement
.
began soon before Pesach. While the battle raged around him, Rabbi Ziemba prepared himself for the coming holiday as if nothing was happening. In the evening, the fighting stopped and Ziemba conducted the Seder
as though the times were normal.
The next few days were spent in hideouts watching the ghetto being burned. The Nazis were methodically destroying the ghetto, house by house, in order to break the resistance. Among those burning were the houses around Kupiecka 7, including the building where Ziemba was holed up.
With the air thick with smoke and nearly impossible to breathe, Ziemba and the people with him decided to try to run across the street, past SS men manning machine guns, to the building where the "Volia Rav", Rabbi Ber, was hiding.
During a momentary lull in the shooting, when it seemed safe, Ziemba's daughter Rosa managed to run across first and then motioned to the others with her arm. Her signal was misunderstood. Believing it to be safe, Ziemba, holding his five year old grandson Yankele Ber by the hand, tried to make a run for dear life. Wild screams and gunfire ensued. Ziemba fell to the floor; the others retreated under the ferocious assault.
The news of the Rabbi's death quickly spread to all neighboring hideouts. In spite of the great danger, a number of minyan
im gathered. A Beth Din
was set up, which decided to bury the Rabbi temporarily in a grave in the courtyard of Kupiecka 4. When the ghetto was finally liquidated, his entire immediate family was taken to Treblinka where they all perished.
. After weeks of work by surveyors and others, his grave was finally located - all landmarks remembered by the survivors had been destroyed in the interim. His body was flown to Israel and after a funeral attended by all the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah and tens of thousands of people, he was finally laid to rest on Har HaMenuchot
.
Tens of thousands of pages of works authored by Rabbi Ziemba were destroyed in the burning of the Warsaw Ghetto. Among these was a treatise on the entire Rambam called Machaze Hamelech, another on the Talmud Yerushalmi
called Menachem Yerushalaim, as well as hundreds of responsa
and novellae on Bavli, Shulchan Aruch
, Midrash
and many other parts of the Torah. These works were lost for posterity.
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Rabbi, known as a Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
ic genius and prodigy
Illui
Illui is a noun derived from the Hebrew and Yiddish, meaning a young Torah and Talmudic prodigy or genius....
. He was gunned down by the Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto
Warsaw Ghetto
The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest of all Jewish Ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II. It was established in the Polish capital between October and November 15, 1940, in the territory of General Government of the German-occupied Poland, with over 400,000 Jews from the vicinity...
.
Biography
Rabbi Ziemba was born in PragaPraga
Praga is a historical borough of Warsaw, the capital of Poland. It is located on the east bank of the river Vistula. First mentioned in 1432, until 1791 it formed a separate town with its own city charter.- History :...
, a suburb of Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, in 1883. His father, Elazar, died while Menachem was still a young boy and the orphan was brought up by his grandfather Rabbi Avraham Ziemba. Rabbi Avraham had been a chassid of the Kotzker Rebbe and a student of the Chiddushei Harim, and was now a follower of the Sfas Emes
Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter
Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter , also known by the title of his main work, the Sfas Emes, was a Hasidic rabbi who succeeded his grandfather, Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Alter, as the av beis din and Rav of Góra Kalwaria, Poland , and succeeded the Rebbe, Reb Heynekh of Alexander, as Rebbe of the Gerrer...
of Gur
Góra Kalwaria
Góra Kalwaria is a town on the Vistula River in the Mazovian Voivodship, Poland, about 25 km southeast of Warsaw. It has a population of about 11,000 . The town has significance for both Catholic Christians and Hasidic Jews...
.
Rabbi Ziemba was brought up in the Gerrer chasidus
Ger (Hasidic dynasty)
Ger, or Gur is a Hasidic dynasty originating from Ger, the Yiddish name of Góra Kalwaria, a small town in Poland....
by his grandfather and remained a loyal chasid his entire life. Even years later when he was world-renowned as a Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
scholar, Posek
Posek
Posek is the term in Jewish law for "decider"—a legal scholar who decides the Halakha in cases of law where previous authorities are inconclusive or in those situations where no halakhic precedent exists....
and master of Hasidic thought, he still considered himself a simple Chasid of the rebbe
Rebbe
Rebbe , which means master, teacher, or mentor, is a Yiddish word derived from the Hebrew word Rabbi. It often refers to the leader of a Hasidic Jewish movement...
of Ger. When he visited Ger, he was called by his first name and refused to sit at the Rebbe's top table, an honour reserved for visitors of note.
As Rabbi Ziemba grew up in Warsaw, he gained a reputation as a formidable Talmid Chacham (scholar) and dazzling genius. He maintained a unique correspondence with the Gaon of Rogatchov
Rogatchover Gaon
Joseph Rosen known as the Rogatchover Gaon, , and also often referred to by the title of his main work Tzofnath Paneach , , was a rabbi and one of the most prominent talmudic scholars of the early 20th-century, known as a genius because of...
, a fiery individual not known for his tolerance of mediocrity, nor tolerance of younger students.
At the age of eighteen, Rabbi Ziemba married the daughter of a wealthy local merchant. He was thus able to learn Torah unhindered for the next twenty years, a time remembered by him as the happiest years of his life. His fame spread further afield, attracting the attention of Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk
Meir Simcha of Dvinsk
Meir Simcha of Dvinsk was a rabbi and prominent leader of Orthodox Judaism in Eastern Europe in the early 20th century. He was a kohen, and is therefore often referred to as Meir Simcha ha-Kohen...
and others. He once confided that he authored more than 10,000 pages of Torah novellae during this golden period.
When his father-in-law died, Rabbi Ziemba found it necessary to help out in the former's store in order to continue supporting his family. He rejected numerous offers to serve as rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
in many towns and cities, saying that he had more time to study while working than as a communal rabbi.
However, at the request of his beloved Gerrer Rebbe
Avraham Mordechai Alter
Avraham Mordechai Alter , also known as the Imrei Emes after the works he authored, was the third Rebbe of the Hasidic dynasty of Ger, a position he held from 1905 until his death in 1948. He was one of the founders of the Agudas Israel in Poland and was influential in establishing a network of...
, Rabbi Ziemba entered communal affairs. He was appointed the representative of Praga to the Kehilla
Kehilla (modern)
The Kehilla is the local Jewish communal structure that was reinstated in the early twentieth century as a modern, secular, and religious sequel of the Qahal in Central and Eastern Europe, more particularly in Poland's Second Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukrainian People's Republic,...
Council in Warsaw. Between 1930 and 1935, the world economic depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
affected Rabbi Ziemba. His store was forced to close. He was offered the prestigious position of Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities...
of Jerusalem, but turned it down. After the untimely death of Rabbi Meir Shapiro
Meir Shapiro
Yehuda Meir Shapiro , , was a prominent Hasidic rabbi and rosh yeshiva, also known as the Lubliner Rav...
, Rabbi Ziemba was offered the position as his successor as both Rabbi of Lublin
Lublin
Lublin is the ninth largest city in Poland. It is the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 350,392 . Lublin is also the largest Polish city east of the Vistula river...
and rosh yeshiva
Rosh yeshiva
Rosh yeshiva, , , is the title given to the dean of a Talmudical academy . It is made up of the Hebrew words rosh — meaning head, and yeshiva — a school of religious Jewish education...
of Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin
Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva
Founded by Rabbi Meir Shapiro, the Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva, , was an important centre for Torah study in Poland.-History:On May 22–28, 1924, the cornerstone laying ceremony took place for the construction of the yeshiva building. Approximately 20,000 people participated in the event.The opening...
. For unknown reasons, this never came to pass.
In 1935 he, together with Rabbi Yaakov Myer Biderman, brother-in-law of the Gerrer Rebbe, and Rabbi Avraham Weinberg, was appointed to the Warsaw Rabbinate, becoming one of the foremost spokesmen for Orthodox Jewry
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. Aside from his newfound political prominence, Rabbi Ziemba became a Halachic decisor of great importance, answering questions from around the world, as well as from Poland.
Rabbi Ziemba also took an active role in the Agudas Yisroel
World Agudath Israel
World Agudath Israel , usually known as the Aguda, was established in the early twentieth century as the political arm of Ashkenazi Torah Judaism, in succession to Agudas Shlumei Emunei Yisroel...
at an early stage. At its first Knessia Gedola (great gathering), he was not yet forty when chosen to serve as honorary secretary in the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah
Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah
Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah refers to the supreme rabbinical policy-making council of any of several related Haredi Jewish organizations....
. At the second Knessia Gedola, Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzenski agreed to serve as chairman of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah only if Rabbi Ziemba would continue in his position, while the forty-five year old Rabbi Ziemba felt himself to be too young and sought to stay in the background. At the third Knessiah Gedolah in 1937 in Marienbad, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, which played witness to the last massive gathering of European Orthodoxy before the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
, Rabbi Ziemba was at the height of his fame. He spoke twice to the full assemblage and each time was greeted with hushed silence and awe.
World War II
With the outbreak of World War II and the German invasion of PolandInvasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
, Rabbi Ziemba became the single most important force in the Warsaw Ghetto. In the darkest days of despair, he was a source of hope, optimism and inspiration. He set up secret locations for the study of Torah, and at great personal risk, constantly visited these clandestine places to strengthen those who studied there. His wife died in the ghetto.
Rabbi Ziemba was given two opportunities to escape from the ghetto. Through the efforts of Chaim Israel and the Sternbuch family of Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, he was sent a Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
n passport and citizenship papers. His last name, however, was misspelled - Ziember instead of Ziemba. This was enough excuse for his papers to be declared void.
In another incident, Rabbi Ziemba, along with the other two surviving members of the Warsaw Rabbinate, Rabbi Shimshon Sztokhamer and Rabbi David Shapiro, were suddenly summoned to the Judenrat
Judenrat
Judenräte were administrative bodies during the Second World War that the Germans required Jews to form in the German occupied territory of Poland, and later in the occupied territories of the Soviet Union It is the overall term for the enforcement bodies established by the Nazi occupiers to...
. They were told that the Catholic Church was willing to rescue them. The three refused to go, saying that the existence of the Rabbinate gave Jews strength to carry on, although such a formality was no longer needed.
Rabbi Ziemba established a committee to provide Pesach supplies for the Ghetto inhabitants. He was under constant surveillance by the authorities, and as such, could not become personally involved with the Ghetto underground. However, when money was needed to obtain ammunition, he was the first to donate, and added personal blessings to this resistance movement
Resistance movement
A resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups, dedicated to opposing an invader in an occupied country or the government of a sovereign state. It may seek to achieve its objects through either the use of nonviolent resistance or the use of armed force...
.
Death
The Warsaw Ghetto UprisingWarsaw Ghetto Uprising
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the Jewish resistance that arose within the Warsaw Ghetto in German occupied Poland during World War II, and which opposed Nazi Germany's effort to transport the remaining ghetto population to Treblinka extermination camp....
began soon before Pesach. While the battle raged around him, Rabbi Ziemba prepared himself for the coming holiday as if nothing was happening. In the evening, the fighting stopped and Ziemba conducted the Seder
Passover Seder
The Passover Seder is a Jewish ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. It is conducted on the evenings of the 14th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, and on the 15th by traditionally observant Jews living outside Israel. This corresponds to late March or April in...
as though the times were normal.
The next few days were spent in hideouts watching the ghetto being burned. The Nazis were methodically destroying the ghetto, house by house, in order to break the resistance. Among those burning were the houses around Kupiecka 7, including the building where Ziemba was holed up.
With the air thick with smoke and nearly impossible to breathe, Ziemba and the people with him decided to try to run across the street, past SS men manning machine guns, to the building where the "Volia Rav", Rabbi Ber, was hiding.
During a momentary lull in the shooting, when it seemed safe, Ziemba's daughter Rosa managed to run across first and then motioned to the others with her arm. Her signal was misunderstood. Believing it to be safe, Ziemba, holding his five year old grandson Yankele Ber by the hand, tried to make a run for dear life. Wild screams and gunfire ensued. Ziemba fell to the floor; the others retreated under the ferocious assault.
The news of the Rabbi's death quickly spread to all neighboring hideouts. In spite of the great danger, a number of minyan
Minyan
A minyan in Judaism refers to the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations. According to many non-Orthodox streams of Judaism adult females count in the minyan....
im gathered. A Beth Din
Beth din
A beth din, bet din, beit din or beis 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...
was set up, which decided to bury the Rabbi temporarily in a grave in the courtyard of Kupiecka 4. When the ghetto was finally liquidated, his entire immediate family was taken to Treblinka where they all perished.
Postscript
In 1958, upon learning that the Polish Government was planning to rebuild the area of the ghetto that included Rabbi Ziemba's grave, his nephews Rabbi Avraham and Rabbi Yitzchok Meir Ziemba (who were with him to the very end) and others expended great efforts to exhume his body and bring it to IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. After weeks of work by surveyors and others, his grave was finally located - all landmarks remembered by the survivors had been destroyed in the interim. His body was flown to Israel and after a funeral attended by all the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah and tens of thousands of people, he was finally laid to rest on Har HaMenuchot
Har HaMenuchot
Har HaMenuchot is the largest cemetery in Jerusalem, Israel. It is located at the western edge of the city adjacent to the neighborhood of Givat Shaul, with commanding views of Mevaseret Zion to the north, Motza to the west, and Har Nof to the south.-History:...
.
Works
- Totzos Chaim, a work on the laws pertaining to carrying on Shabbos, written in honour of Rabbi Ziemba's father-in-law who died in 1920
- Zera Avraham (seed of AbrahamAbrahamAbraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...
), a correspondence between Rabbi Ziemba and Rabbi Avraham Luftbier of Warsaw, who died at a very young age - Gur Arye Yehuda, a book of novellae by Moshe Yehuda Arye, Rabbi Ziemba's prodigious son, who died at the age of 19 in 1924. It also contained some correspondence between father and son.
Tens of thousands of pages of works authored by Rabbi Ziemba were destroyed in the burning of the Warsaw Ghetto. Among these was a treatise on the entire Rambam called Machaze Hamelech, another on the Talmud Yerushalmi
Jerusalem Talmud
The Jerusalem Talmud, talmud meaning "instruction", "learning", , is a collection of Rabbinic notes on the 2nd-century Mishnah which was compiled in the Land of Israel during the 4th-5th century. The voluminous text is also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmud de-Eretz Yisrael...
called Menachem Yerushalaim, as well as hundreds of responsa
Responsa
Responsa comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them.-In the Roman Empire:Roman law recognised responsa prudentium, i.e...
and novellae on Bavli, Shulchan Aruch
Shulchan Aruch
The Shulchan Aruch also known as the Code of Jewish Law, is the most authoritative legal code of Judaism. It was authored in Safed, Israel, by Yosef Karo in 1563 and published in Venice two years later...
, Midrash
Midrash
The Hebrew term Midrash is a homiletic method of biblical exegesis. The term also refers to the whole compilation of homiletic teachings on the Bible....
and many other parts of the Torah. These works were lost for posterity.