Yerucham Levovitz
Encyclopedia
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...
Yeruchom Halevi Levovitz (or Leibovitz) (ca. 1873-1936), also known by his hundreds of students simply as The Mashgiach, was a famous mashgiach ruchani
Mashgiach ruchani
Mashgiach ruchani or mashgiach for short, means a spiritual supervisor or guide. It is a title which usually refers to a rabbi who has an official position within a yeshiva and is responsible for the non-academic areas of yeshiva students' lives.The position of mashgiach ruchani arose with the...
and baal mussar
Mussar movement
The Musar movement is a Jewish ethical, educational and cultural movement that developed in 19th century Eastern Europe, particularly among Orthodox Lithuanian Jews. The Hebrew term Musar , is from the book of Proverbs 1:2 meaning instruction, discipline, or conduct...
(ethicist) at the Mir yeshiva
Mir yeshiva (Poland)
The Mir yeshiva , commonly known as the Mirrer Yeshiva or The Mir, was a Haredi yeshiva located in the town of Mir, Russian Empire...
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...
.
He was born in 1873 (5633 in the Jewish calendar) in Lyuban, Minsk Voblast, Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
(near Slutsk
Slutsk
Slutsk is a town in Belarus, located on the Sluch River south of Minsk. As of 2010 its population is of 61,400).-Geography:The town is situated in the south-west of its Voblast, not too far from from the city of Soligorsk.-History:...
) to Avraham and Chasha Levovitz. He received his education in the yeshiva
Yeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
s of Slobodka
Slabodka yeshiva
Hebron Yeshiva, also known as Yeshivas Hevron, or Knesses Yisroel, and originally as Slabodka Yeshiva, is known colloquially as the "mother of yeshivas" and was devoted to high=level study of the Talmud. The yeshiva was located in the Lithuanian town of Slabodka, adjacent to Kovno , now...
and Kelm
Kelm Talmud Torah
The Kelm Talmud Torah was a famous yeshiva in pre-holocaust Kelmė, Lithuania. Unlike other yeshivas, the Talmud Torah focused primarily on the study of Musar and self-improvement.-Under the Leadership of Simcha Zissel Ziv:...
.
He was a disciple of Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, Simcha Zissel Ziv
Simcha Zissel Ziv
Rabbi Simcha Zissel Ziv Broida , also known as the Alter of Kelm , was one of the foremost students of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter and one of the early leaders of the Musar movement...
of Kelm
Kelm Talmud Torah
The Kelm Talmud Torah was a famous yeshiva in pre-holocaust Kelmė, Lithuania. Unlike other yeshivas, the Talmud Torah focused primarily on the study of Musar and self-improvement.-Under the Leadership of Simcha Zissel Ziv:...
as well as Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan
Yisrael Meir Kagan
Yisrael Meir Poupko , known popularly as The Chofetz Chaim, was an influential Eastern European rabbi, Halakhist, posek, and ethicist whose works continue to be widely influential in Jewish life...
(Chofetz Chaim) of Radin
Radun
Radun is a township in Belarus, in the Voranava district, Hrodna Voblast.It is famous for being the home of Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, known as the Chofetz Chaim, and his Raduń Yeshiva....
.
Mir Yeshiva
He was the spiritual leader of the Mir Yeshiva in Poland until his passing in 1936. His disciples were said to have followed his every word, never doing anything that they "felt" he would not want them to do. Most of the leaders of the yeshivas of inter-war Poland were Rabbi Yerucham's disciples. They would come on occasion to visit him and seek his advice.After World War II
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...
, much of orthodox Jewry in Europe was wiped out, along with their many yeshivas (Jewish schools of higher learning). One of the only yeshivas to survive as a whole body was the Mir Yeshiva, which managed to escape miraculously to Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, and then on to America. Many of the new leaders of the American and Israeli yeshivas in the post-war period were students of the Mir, and thus followers of Rabbi Leibovitz.
Disciples
Some of his better known disciples include Rabbi Shlomo WolbeShlomo Wolbe
Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe was a Haredi rabbi born in Berlin and died in Jerusalem. He is best known as the author of Alei Shur , a work of musar literature discussing personal growth as it pertains to students of the Talmud.-Life and teaching positions:Shlomo Wolbe was raised in an irreligious Jewish...
, Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz
Chaim Shmuelevitz
Chaim Leib Shmuelevitz, , was a member of the faculty of the Mirrer Yeshiva for more than 40 years, in Poland, Shanghai and Jerusalem, serving as Rosh yeshiva during its sojourn in Shanghai from 1941 to 1947, and again in the Mirrer Yeshiva in Jerusalem from 1965 to 1979...
, Rabbi Dovid Povarsky
Dovid Povarsky
Rabbi Dovid Povarsky is known for his erudite Talmudic lectures and his deanship as Rosh Yeshiva of Ponevezh Yeshiva. He was asked by Rabbi Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman to join the previous two heads of the institute, Rabbi Elazar Menachem Shach and Rabbi Shmuel Rozovsky to create a triumvirate in...
, Rabbi Abba Berman
Abba Berman
Rabbi Abba Mordechai Berman was a renowned Talmudist and Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Iyun HaTalmud.Reb Abba was born on Tu BiShvat 5679 in Lodz, Poland to his father, Rabbi Shaul Yosef Berman, rosh yeshiva of Toras Chesed in Lodz and a student of the Chofetz Chayim. As a young child, Reb Abba's...
, Rabbi Zelik Epstein
Zelik Epstein
Zelik Epstein, also known as Zelig Epstein , was a prominent Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Shaar HaTorah-Grodno, a private, Talmudical institution in Kew Gardens, Queens, New York, containing a high school, Beis Midrash, and Kollel...
and Rabbi Shimon Schwab
Shimon Schwab
Shimon Schwab was an Orthodox rabbi and communal leader in Germany and the United States. Educated in Frankfurt am Main and in the yeshivot of Lithuania, he was rabbi in Ichenhausen, Bavaria, after immigration to the United States in Baltimore, and from 1958 until his death at Khal Adath Jeshurun...
.
His many discourses and lectures are preserved for posterity in nine books Daas Chochma U'Mussar which are a staple of many yeshiva libraries today, as well as many Orthodox Jewish households.
He died on the 18th of Sivan
Sivan
Sivan is the ninth month of the civil year and the third month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar. It is a spring month of 30 days...
in the year 1936 at the age of sixty-three. He is buried in the town of Mir, Belarus
Mir, Belarus
Mir is an urban settlement in Kareličy raion, Hrodna Voblast, Belarus on the banks of Miranka River, about 85 kilometers southwest of the national capital, Minsk....
. His grave site (recently rebuilt by his family) is a common destination for the many Jewish tourists who visit the decimated cities of pre-war Europe.
Rebuilding in America
Most of his family escaped the Nazis and made it to America where they were pioneers of the rebuilding of Orthodox JewryOrthodox 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 the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. His son, Rabbi Simcha Zissel Halevi Levovitz
Simcha Zissel Halevi Levovitz
Simcha Zissel Halevi Levovitz was a rabbi and founder of a yeshiva in Boro Park, Brooklyn.He was born in 1908 in Ozovnet, Lithuania. His father, Musar movement leader Rabbi Yeruchom Levovitz, was then the spiritual director of the Kelm Talmud Torah in Kelme, Lithuania.Simcha Zissel studied in the...
, was the founder of a yeshiva in Boro Park, Brooklyn, and was responsible for publishing the writings of his father, as well as publishing the writings of Rabbi Simcha Zissel Ziv
Simcha Zissel Ziv
Rabbi Simcha Zissel Ziv Broida , also known as the Alter of Kelm , was one of the foremost students of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter and one of the early leaders of the Musar movement...
. His grandson, Rabbi Nachman Lebovitz is one of the deans in the Mir Yeshiva (Jerusalem)
Mir yeshiva (Jerusalem)
The Mir yeshiva , known as the Mirrer Yeshiva or The Mir, is an Orthodox Jewish yeshiva in Jerusalem, Israel. With 6,000 students, it is the largest yeshiva in Israel. Many of the students are from the United States and Canada. It is also believed to be the largest yeshiva in the world...
today and continues in his path of disseminating Torah to many students. Most of his children and grandchildren have become teachers, lecturers, and rabbis in various communities in the United States.