The thirteenth of Teves is the yahrzeit of Rav Yitzchok HaKohen Huberman, the Tzaddik of Raanana (1896-1977). His father, Rav Asher Anshel, taught in the town of Tomashov and knew the entire Tanach and Mishna (with the commentaries of the Rav and Tosefos Yom Tov), as well as all the commentaries of the Alshich on Tanach, by heart. Rav Asher Anshel didn’t charge for teaching as his wife took on the financial responsibility for the family so he could focus on studying and teaching Torah. Rav Yitzchok’s mother was his first teacher, teaching him Tanach, and he knew it expertly by the time he was seven. By the time he was ten, his mind was sufficiently mature to go to a shiur with much older students. The teacher was concerned that the students would refuse to go to class with a child, so his father came every day and made it seem that he was coming to listen to the shiur and bringing his son along.
Around that time Rav Yitzchok heard about the yeshiva of the Sochotzchover Rebbe, the Iglei Tal, and desperately wanted to attend, but his parents were concerned that the trip would be too tasking for such a young child and did not allow him to go. Four years later, after the death of the Iglei Tal, when his son, the Shem Mishmuel, had expanded the yeshiva to include shiurim for younger bachurim, his parents let him go. He remained there until the outbreak of WWI. In the yeshiva he began to study for smicha under the tutelage of Rav Michael Forschlager. Rav Forschlager required him to be able to repeat by heart the entire Meseches Chullin along with the Rif, Ran and Rosh, as well as the Tur, Bais Yosef and Shulchan Aruch. He also expected him to come up with novel insights. After the war’s outbreak he went to Warsaw and learned in the Sochotzchov shteibel there. He learned with Rav Zvi Glickson, the son-in-law of Rav Chaim Soloveitchik, and through him became acquainted with the Brisker Rav. He took advantage of the fact that so many refugees had come to Warsaw to get to know a number of Chassidic Rebbes as well as various roshei yeshiva and rabbanim. His primary connection was with Gerrer Chassidus.
By 1927 he had written a large volume of chidushei Torah on Tanach and Gemara and, as he had no children, the Gerrer Rebbe encouraged him to publish a sefer to leave a legacy. A few months later he met the Lubavitcher Rebbe Rav Yaakov Yitzchok, who was very impressed with his insights and told his Chassidim that, “This is called learning Chassidus.” Years later he got a similar reaction when he shared his insights with Rav Yaakov Moshe Charlap. For various reasons his publishing plans were delayed until the summer of 1939 at which time he was able to prepare a small amount of his writings for publication.
Shortly after the outbreak of war he was impressed into a labor gang in which he was beaten regularly. One day a Polish soldier killed a Nazi cavalryman and his horse. Sixteen men were forced from the home in which they were staying to dig a pit in which to bury the horse. When they were done digging and climbed out of the grave the officer ordered them to line up and took each person’s hat and tossed it into the pit. When he saw that Rav Huberman had a yarmulke under his hat, the Nazi said, “Oh, you’re a rabbi,” and pushed him into the pit. To everyone’s surprise he survived the fall with no injuries, and when the officer saw that he was still alive he ordered the other people to take the carcass of the horse and throw it upon him. The people protested, but the officer wasn’t moved and threatened to shoot them. They began dragging the carcass to the pit when suddenly a general arrived and shouted at the officer, “The front is over there, and you are busy with these accursed Jews?!” The Nazis left and the other people lifted Rav Huberman out of the pit. He was certain that the general was an angel. On another occasion he was ordered by a soldier to clean up some straw that had fallen. The officer was displeased with his efforts and ordered him to stand facing a wall. Rav Huberman heard the officer fiddling with his gun for fifteen minutes, but then he began to laugh and told him to go.
Realizing that the situation was dire he decided to head to Russian-controlled territory with his wife and her brother and family. He tried to convince his mother and sister to come, but his sister was supposed to be getting married shortly thereafter and didn’t want to go, so her mother stayed behind as well. Getting past the border guard proved to be quite a challenge but they were able to distract the guards and cross into Russian territory. They eventually settled in Radzwill where the local rabbi honored him by asking him to teach a class on Pirkei Avos on Shabbos. In an effort to find something to do to provide for his family, he spoke with some of the locals after Shabbos and decided to buy dairy products in Radzwill, transport them to Lemberg and to bring cigarettes and whiskey back to Radzwill to sell there. This was all illegal under Communist rule.
The following week as he was driving his fully loaded wagon on his way to Lemberg he was met by a member of the Russian secret police at a crossroads. The usual procedure in those cases was that the wagon and its contents were destroyed, and anyone on the wagon could expect to have their homes raided for contraband. The officer jumped on the wagon and ordered Rav Huberman to continue going; he expected to be taken to police headquarters. Instead, the officer began to speak to him in Yiddish, saying that on Shabbos he had passed the shul and saw there was a crowd. Curious as to what was happening, he went to listen and was very inspired and moved by Rav Huberman’s insights into Pirkei Avos. He wanted to make sure that the Rav took a route that would avoid other policemen, so he hopped aboard.
Up to this point, this article has been based on an autobiographical sketch that Rav Huberman published in the first volume of his sefer Ben L’Ashri on Chumash and other topics. He wrote that he planned to continue the autobiography in the second volume, but by then as he was scheduled for cataract surgery and was reliant on others to read and write for him, he didn’t want to burden them with the responsibility of recording more of his autobiography. He wrote that he planned to complete it at a later date, but the third volume was published posthumously, consequently his autobiography was never completed. The remainder of this article is based on other sources.
He spent most of the war years in Siberia as a woodcutter. At one point when he was forced to work on Shabbos he cut off part of one of his fingers so he would be excused. He said he would rather have a blemish that would invalidate him from working in the Bais HaMikdash, than to desecrate Shabbos. When the war ended, he spent six years in Wetzlar, Germany as the local rabbi. In his position he helped many survivors rebuild their lives emotionally, psychologically, and financially. In 1950 he moved to Israel and settled in Raanana. He had a close relationship with the Gerrer Rebbe, the Bais Yisroel, who would come to Raanana to visit him. Many people would come to Raanana just to get berachos from him. There are numerous stories about how his berachos and tefillos helped people.
