Chaim Ozer Grodzinski
Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski | |
|---|---|
 Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski (right) conversing with Rabbi Shimon Shkop | |
| Personal | |
| Born | August 24, 1863 9 Elul 5623 AM (Hebrew calendar) |
| Died | August 9, 1940 (aged 76) 5 Av 5700 AM (Hebrew calendar) |
| Religion | Judaism |
| Parent | Rabbi David Shlomo Grodzinski |
| Denomination | Orthodox |
| Alma mater | Volozhin yeshiva |
| Occupation | Rav of Vilnius, Lithuania |
| Other | Leader of Lithuanian and European Jewry |
Chaim Ozer Grodzinski[1] (Hebrew: חיים עוזר גראדזענסקי; August 24, 1863 – August 9, 1940) was a pre-eminent Av beis din (rabbinical chief justice), posek (halakhic authority), and Talmudic scholar in Vilnius, Lithuania in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During his 55 years of community service, he was recognized as the leading posek and spiritual guide of his generation, fielding halakhic queries from all parts of the world and being consulted on every Jewish communal issue.[2] He played an instrumental role in preserving Lithuanian yeshivas during the Communist era, and saved the yeshivas of Poland and Russia during the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939, when he arranged for these yeshivas to relocate to Lithuanian cities.
Biography
Chaim Ozer Grodzinski was born on 9 Elul 5623 (24 August 1863)[2] in Iwye, Belarus, a small town near Vilnius. His father, Rabbi David Shlomo Grodzinski, was Rav of Iwye for over 40 years,[2] and his grandfather was also Rav of the town for 40 years before that.[3]
From infancy, Chaim Ozer was weak and sickly. However, he was gifted with a fine memory, never forgetting anything he read or heard. At the age of 9, he was tested by Rabbi Yisroel Salanter, who asked the boy a question in halakha. Ozer refuted the Rav's thesis and cited a different one from the sources, astounding the Rav.[2]
When he was 12 years old, his father sent him to learn with the perushim, a group of the finest Lithuanian Torah scholars assembled in Eishyshok. Chaim Ozer celebrated his bar mitzvah there. He declined to deliver the usual bar mitzvah pilpul, but demonstrated his fluency in the Ketzos Hachoshen and the Nesivos Hamishpat by asking his guests to recite a few words from these seforim and he continued for them, quoting entire pages word for word and clearly explaining each topic.[2]
At the age of 15, he began studying at the Volozhin yeshiva and was accepted into Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik's shiur.[2]
By the age of 20, when he passed through Vilnius, his fame preceded him. Both Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Grodnenski — the leading Rav of Vilna and the son-in-law of Rabbi Yisroel Salanter — and Rabbi Elinke Levinsohn of Kretinga desired the young Torah prodigy for their own son-in-law. The two went to Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor of Kovno to decide which family would merit this honor. After hearing each one's position, Spektor asked to meet Grodzinski, and spoke at length with him on various Torah topics. Afterward, Spektor told the two prospective fathers-in-law: "The truth is that if I had a daughter to marry off, I would take him and leave you both out in the cold. Since I have no such daughter, however, I have decided in favor of the Rav of Vilna".[2]
At the age of 24 he joined the Beis-Din of Vilna, which at the time was the only leadership in the city that didn't have a Rav at the time.
Two years after his marriage, Grodzinski's father-in-law died and the community of Vilnius asked him to take his place. Thus he became the leading Rav of Vilna at the age of 22. He was immediately accepted by all the older rabbis. When people remarked, "But he's so young for such a lofty position," Grodzinski humorously replied, "Don't worry, it's only a temporary blemish. I'll get over it with time".[2] Any lingering doubts about his fitness for the position were put to rest when Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik and Rabbi Alexander Moshe Lapidos came to the city and first went to call on the Rav of Vilna, Chaim Ozer Grodzinski.[2]
Leadership
In 1887 he was appointed as a dayan (religious judge) of the beth din of Vilna.[4] He was a participant in the founding conference of Agudath Israel (in Kattowitz, Silesia, in 1912) and served on the party's Council of Sages.[4][5] He also was a co-founder and active leader of the Va'ad ha-Yeshivot (Council of the Yeshivot),[4] based in Vilnius, an umbrella organization that offered material and spiritual support for yeshivot throughout the eastern provinces of Poland from 1924 to 1939.
In addition to his communal work, he maintained a strict schedule of Torah learning, producing his monumental, three-volume work Achiezer even as he was fully involved in communal affairs.[3]
He did not have his own yeshiva but assisted in the management of the Rameilles Yeshiva of Vilnius. He also established a kibbutz (group) of elite young Torah scholars, all known as iluyim (prodigies), and gave them shiurim on obscure Talmud topics. His students included Rabbi Yehezkel Abramsky, Rabbi Eliezer Silver, Rabbi Moshe Shatzkes, and Rabbi Reuven Katz.[2]
He was also the person who helped rabbi yitzchak rubinstein become the chief Rabbi of Vilna, a job which the Russian government required from all Jewish communities, but Reb Chaim couldn't join as he didn't have the education required by the government to take the job
With the death of Rabbi Yitzchak Elchonon Spektor in 1896, Grodzinski became the leader of European Jewry. He was consulted regularly in the fight for traditional Torah education in the Russian empire and to counteract the ban against shechitah (ritual slaughter) of kosher meat. Eventually his influence was so strong that no Rav or shochet could be appointed anywhere in Poland or Russia without his consent.[2] Thanks to his phenomenal memory, he remembered names of people and places from all over the world, making him a valuable resource when communities far and wide sought to appoint a new Rav or rosh yeshiva.[3]
Both the communities of Jerusalem and St. Petersburg offered him the position of chief rabbi, but he declined, saying that he was needed where he was. In gratitude for his dedication, the Jewish community of Vilnius wanted to name him the official chief rabbi of Vilnius, but he refused this honor, saying that he had not come to change the city's long-standing tradition not to have a central rav. When the community offered him a pay raise instead, he agreed on condition that all the other rabbis in Vilnius would receive one, too.[2]
In 1909, there was a meeting in Hamburg, Germany, that was destined to become the precursor of Agudas Yisroel. Among the Torah sages present there R. Chaim Brisker, R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, R. Eliezer Gordon, and the Imrei Emes. The main goal of the Agudah was to combat the Zionists and the Mizrachi against Zionism.[6] R. Grodzinski was the first chairman of the Moetzes Gedolei Torah - the rabbinical advisory board to the Agudah.[7]
In a letter, R. Grodzinski explained why the Agudah would not collaborate with the Religious Zionist organization, Mizrachi. “There should also be a joined effort in the communities in the diaspora to unite together all the Haredim against the antireligious front ... it is clear that as long as the Mizrachi is in the framework of the World Zionist Organization, there can be no discussion about a joint between the two organizations (Agudah and Mizrachi)”[8]
When his daughter lay in the hospital on the verge of death, he ran to his office to answer all the halakhic correspondence waiting on his desk, since he knew that he would not be able to research and answer these pressing questions during the week of shivah.[2]
His students were puzzled when he walked with a directions seeker a considerable distance on a snowy day; he later explained that since the person had a lisp he might hesitate to ask clarification since the location was unobvious.[9]
Final years
Grodzinski died of cancer[3] on 9 August 1940 (5 Av[10] 5700). His death was closely preceded by the deaths of two other leaders of Lithuanian-style Orthodox Judaism: Rabbi Shimon Shkop, rosh yeshiva of the Grodno yeshiva, who died on 22 October 1939, and Rabbi Boruch Ber Leibowitz, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Kaminetz, who died on 17 November 1939.[3]
References
- ^ "A Letter From R'Chaim Ozer". The Jewish Press. March 5, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rabbi Aharon Sorasky. Glimpses of Greatness: Reb Chaim Ozer Is Klal Yisrael. Hamodia Features, 22 July 2010, p. C3.
- ^ a b c d e Brafman, Rabbi Aaron. "Ish HaEshkolos: He led world Jewry from Vilna". The Jewish Observer. Archived from the original on July 21, 2010. Retrieved 14 December 2010.
- ^ a b c Ben-Sasson, Haim Hillel (2007). "Grodzinski, Ḥayyim Ozer". In Berenbaum, Michael; Skolnik, Fred (eds.). Encyclopaedia Judaica. Vol. 8 (2nd ed.). Detroit: Macmillan Reference. pp. 91–92. ISBN 978-0-02-866097-4.
- ^ Eisenberg, Ronald (2014). Essential Figures in Jewish Scholarship. Lanham, MD: Jason Aronson. p. 241-242.
- ^ Shapiro, Yaakov. The empty wagon : Zionism's journey from identity crisis to identity theft. p. 718. ISBN 978-1-64255-554-7. OCLC 1156725117.
- ^ "Biography of Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski (1863-1940) and his relationship to the Rabbi Meir Baal Haneis charity in Israel". www.rabbimeirbaalhaneis.com. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
- ^ Grodzensky, R’ Chaim Ozer Kovetz HaIgros p. 41
- ^ "Learning From Our Leaders". Pirchei Agudas Yisroel of America. 5 May 2018. p. 4.
- ^ "Letters". The Jewish Press. June 19, 2013.
the 5th of Menachem Av, the yahrzeit of both the AriZal and Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinski.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
