Aryeh Levin
Rabbi Aryeh Levin, (March 22, 1885 - March 28, 1969), known as Reb Aryeh, was an Orthodox rabbi dubbed the "Father of Prisoners" for his visits to members of the Jewish underground imprisoned in the Central Prison of Jerusalem in the Russian Compound during the British Mandate. He was also known as the "Tzadik ("saint") of Jerusalem" for his work on behalf of the poor and the sick.
Biography
Reb Aryeh was born near the village of Urla, near Bialystok, northern Lithuania, to Binyamin Beinish and Ethel Levin. He had two older sisters, Miriam and Faige. From his father, Aryeh acquired a love of Torah learning. He was tutored by local teachers until the age of 12, and then left home to attend the great yeshivas of Slonim, Slutsk, Volozhin and Brisk.
Father of the Prisoners
In 1931, at the request of the British Mandate, Chief Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook appointed Reb Aryeh Levin the official Jewish Prison Chaplain, a position he informally had filled since 1927. He accepted on the condition that he receive no pay. He would walk from his home in Nachlaot to visit the Jewish prisoners held in the Russian Compound on charges of arms possession or smuggling. Most of the prisoners were members of the Palmach, Haganah, Irgun or Lehi.[1] Levin prayed with the prisoners and conveyed messages to their families. Room 29 in the Central Prison in Jerusalem (now the Museum of the Underground Prisoners), was used as a synagogue on Shabbat and holidays. The inmates were captivated by the rabbi's warmth and sincerity, and the honor and respect with which he treated them. Mattityahu Shmuelevitz, whose death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, wrote in a letter to a friend: “Yet there is one person in particular to whom I remain grateful first and foremost; a dear, precious Jew about whom you told me nothing; but it was he who stormed heaven and earth for me; and more important — it was he who brought me closer to my Maker in those fateful days... He left and we remained in the prison. He couldn’t take us with him out into the free world, but he always brought the outside world in to us.”
Visiting the sick
R' Aryeh Levin was also known for his visits to the sick, especially patients who had no family of their own. He would sit for hours near the beds of the sick, especially at Bikur Cholim hospital in Jerusalem. He also a frequent visitor at hospitals for lepers, including a hospital in Bethlehem where most of the patients were Arabs. [citation needed].
Identification of bodies
After the Israeli War of Independence, Rabbi Levin conducted a little used ritual known as Goral Hagra in order to identify the mutilated remains of 12 Jewish fighters of the Convoy of 35 [2]
References
- ^ Rosoff, Dovid (2004). Where Heaven Touches Earth. pp. 494–496. ISBN 0-87306-879-3.
- ^ http://ohr.edu/ask/ask042.pdf
- Raz, Simcha (1976). A Tzaddik in Our Time: The life of Rabbi Aryeh Levin. Spring Valley, N.Y.:Philipp Feldheim Inc. ISBN 0-87306-986-2
