The fourth of Shevat is the yahrzeit of Rav Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg (1884-1966). He was born in Ciechanowiec, a small Polish town, to a family of Polish military officers who were not particularly learned. The rabbi of the town was Rav Eliyahu Baruch Kamai who found this brilliant young boy and began to learn with him. Later, when Rav Eliyahu Baruch became Rav and Rosh Yeshiva of Mir, Rav Yechiel Yaakov followed him. He later attended Slabodka where he developed a close relationship with the Alter of Slabodka as well as with Rav Naftali Amsterdam, with whom he studied Ketzos HaChoshen, and other important figures in the Mussar Movement. The Alter eventually sent him back to the Mir so that he could lead the study of mussar there as well as learn with the Alter’s son, Rav Leizer Yudel Finkel. At one point he left yeshiva and went to Grodno to study Russian. Such was his reputation as a talmid chacham that the Chofetz Chaim traveled to Grodno to convince him to return to yeshiva.
After the passing of the rabbi of Pilwiszki, Rav Yechiel Yaakov was offered his position in 1906 with the stipulation that he marry the rabbi’s sixteen-year-old orphaned daughter. He took the position and the wife, but, unfortunately, the marriage was a failure. He remained there serving as rav until the outbreak of WWI and was very active in Agudath Israel but he never married again. During WWI he traveled to Berlin for medical treatment and remained in Germany to attend university. After receiving his doctorate in 1923 he was invited to join the staff of Hildesheimer’s Seminary. The following year he was named Rosh Yeshiva, a position he held until Kristalnacht. In Berlin he developed a relationship with the future Lubavticher Rebbe, as well as with Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik. As the winds of war drew closer, he had opportunities to flee Europe, but ill health prevented him from doing so. He fled Germany and returned to Poland, leaving behind a large library that included manuscripts of seforim he had authored.
With the outbreak of the war, he first went to the ghetto in Kovno and then to Warsaw. In Warsaw he was appointed to be responsible for disbursing the sums sent by the Joint to help refugees. He worked closely with the Sochotzhover Rebbe and Rav Menachem Zemba as they endeavored to improve the situation for those in the ghetto. As a Russian national he was sent by the Germans to a forced labor camp in Germany where he remained for the duration of the war. When the war was over, he was close to death and ended up spending nine months hospitalized. A student of his, Rav Shaul Weingort, brought him to Montreux, Swittzerland, where Rav Weingort was involved in the local yeshiva. He lived in the Weingort home, but a few months later Rav Shaul Weingort was killed in a train accident. Rav Yechiel Yaakov lived in Montreux for the remainder of his life. He turned down numerous offers of very prestigious positions preferring to remain where he was and respond to halachic inquiries sent to him from around the world.
Many efforts were made on his behalf for him to receive support from the Joint after the war, with Rav Herzog and Rav Soloveitchik writing letters of support. In addition, he was able to also get the German government to agree to pay him the pension that he was due for his many years at the Seminary.
He was a fascinating mix of a person. Educated in both the classical yeshiva as well as the academic model, with a touch of mussar thrown in his writings reflect all of his education. His responsa, Sridei Aish, is a halachic classic, he published numerous articles that reflected an academic approach to Torah, as well as others that are classic Litivsh lomdus (though he opposed the Brisker approach). He wrote extensively about the history and development of the mussar movement. He was seen as both a member of the Charedi yeshivishe world, as well as part of the Modern Orthodox World.
This was reflected at his funeral, when he was being taken to the Sanhedria cemetery to be buried next to Rav Shaul Weingort. However, Rav Chatzkel Sarna together with bachurim from Chevron Yeshiva blocked the way and insisted he be buried on Har HaMenuchos with the leading Lithuanian Roshei Yeshiva. Rav Chatzkel gave up a plot he had purchased for himself on Har HaMenuchos, saying that he hoped that by the time he died a plot he had bought many years before on Har HaZeisim would be available. Rav Chatzkel died in 1969 and was buried on Ha Hazeisim. The empty plot next to Rav Shaul Weingort was used for his wife.
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The eighth of Shevat is the yahrzeit of Rav Aryeh Pomeranchik (1908-1942). Born in Brisk, he studied in Yeshivas Toras Chesed under Rav Moshe Sokolovsky. His chavrusa was Rav Yaakov Neiman. The two of them, along with a handful of other students, also spent a decade learning privately with the Brisker Rav. Rav Aryeh described his relationship with the Brisker Rav, “Over the many years I was in Brisk I succeeded in absorbing the best reasoning and insights of Rav Chaim, and to receive his approach to learning… I was considered to be one of the primary students of the Brisker Rav, I was very close to him and like a member of his household.”
Hi entire life he was known for being a masmid. Once he entered the Bais Medrash he wouldn’t leave until the seder ended and he remained completely focused the entire time. Even as a child when his family went on vacation one year he met his friend Rav Yaakov Neiman, and the two of them learned daily for seven hours straight.
In 1933 Rav Mattisyahu Shtiegel, who had founded Yeshiva Bais Yosef in Bnei Brak, obtained a certificate on behalf of Rav Aryeh allowed him to move to Mandatory Palestine to attend the yeshiva. Shortly after his arrival, the Steipler became Rosh Yeshiva. Rav Aryeh developed a close relationship with both the Steipler and the Chazon Ish.
He focused his learning on the agricultural mitzvos which are pertinent in Eretz Yisrael and published a sefer called Toras Ha’Aretz which focused on those mitzvos. The Brisker Rav sent him a glowing haskama on the sefer. In 1935 he married Pesha Dvoretz, whose father, Rav Yisroel Zissel, was a rabbi and businessman who helped lay both the spiritual and economic foundations for the future State of Israel. The young couple moved to Petach Tikvah where the Dvoretz family lived, and Rav Aryeh learned in Kollel Toras Eretz Yisrael. He was known to arrive each morning and then learn uninterrupted for sixteen hours without even having a chavrusa. While there he composed another sefer on halachic concepts of the Jewish holidays which was published posthumously by his brother-in-law.
In 1941 the Brisker Rav moved to Yerushalayim. Six months later Rav Aryeh came to visit him. When the Rav asked him what took him so long to visit, Rav Aryeh explained that he did not have money to pay for the bus fare until now. However, he heard that Rav Leizer Yudel Finkel, Rosh Yeshivas Mir would pay money to anyone who came and told him a new insight, so Rav Aryeh borrowed money to come see the Brisker Rav, expecting to be able to repay the loan after he also visited Rav Leizer Yudel. However, Rav Leizer Yudel didn’t like the chiddush and refused to give him any money. The Brisker Rav asked to hear what he had told Rav Leizer Yudel and said that it was very good, and sent a message to Rav Leizer Yudel that he should pay up. He agreed to cover the cost of Rav Aryeh’s transportation.
He was never in the best of health, suffering his entire life from a breathing difficulty that left him usually very weak. He died in his sleep at the age of 34 after staying up late that night writing his chiddushim on the halachos of mourning. The Chazon Ish came to his funeral despite being in poor health. He asked Rav Aryeh’s wife what she did for a living. She said she was a seamstress, so the Chazon Ish gave her money to purchase a sewing machine.
