Pesach Pruskin

Last updated
Rabbi

Pesach Pruskin
Rabbi Pesach Pruskin.jpg
Personal
Born1879
DiedOctober 24, 1939
Religion Judaism
SpouseTziporah Pruskin
(née Lipschutz)
ChildrenR' Avraham
Rivka Zukovsky
R' Nosson Nota
R' Yehuda Leib
Parents
  • Pesach (father)
  • Rachel (mother)
Denomination Orthodox Judaism
Alma mater Slabodka Yeshiva
Slutsk Yeshiva
OccupationRabbi, Rosh yeshiva
PositionRosh yeshiva
YeshivaKobrin
Began1923
Ended1939
Other Mashgiach at Slutsk Yeshiva
Rosh in Shklov/Amtsislav
Yahrtzeit 11 Cheshvan 5700
Residence Kobryn

Rabbi Pesach Pruskin was an Orthodox Jewish rabbi and rosh yeshiva in White Russia before World War II, most notably in Kobrin. He was known as one of the most brilliant Torah scholars of his time. [1]

Contents

Early life

Rabbi Pruskin was born in Koshchino [RU] , Smolensky District, Smolensk Oblast, in the Russian Empire, to Rachel Palewsky, in 1879. [2] His father had died before he was born and so he was named after him. After his birth, the family moved to Antipole near Kobrin where Rachel's grandfather was a rabbi. In his teens, he studied in the Radin Yeshiva before moving on to Yeshiva Knesses Yisrael of Slabodka, where he became a student of Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, known as the Alter of Slabodka (or "the Alter"). He also studied for a short time in the Kelm Talmud Torah. [3] In 1897, the Alter sent fourteen of his top students to the Slutsk Yeshiva where they would become the nucleus of the new institution. Pesach Pruskin was among this group. [4] After his marriage to Tziporah Lipschutz, he became a night watchman at an orchard, and spent much of his time studying and thinking, completing the Rambam's Moreh Nevuchim . [5]

Rabbinic career

It was during his tenure of watchman that Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer of the Slutsk Yeshiva asked him to return to the yeshiva and accept the post of mashgiach ruchani. [5] Although he declined the invitation at first, he later accepted. Among his students in Slutsk were Moshe Feinstein, future posek and rosh yeshiva in America, who would consider Rabbi Pruskin his primary teacher. [5] During his tenure in Slutsk, Rabbi Pruskin advanced significantly in Torah study, [3] and soon became recognized as one of the most brilliant Torah scholars of his time.

On the advice of the Alter of Slabodka, Rabbi Pruskin left Slutsk to establish a new yeshiva in Shklov. Rabbi Meltzer selected a group of his premier students to join Rabbi Pruskin as the first students in Shklov, including Moshe Feinstein. In 1911, he was asked by the Jewish community of Mstsislaw (Amstislav) to become their rabbi. He responded that he would take the position on the condition that he could bring his yeshiva with him, a condition they accepted. Thus, Rabbi Pruskin and his students moved to Amstislav. [5]

Kobrin

Kobryn, 1930s Kobryn, Rynak. Kobryn', Rynak (1930-39).jpg
Kobryn, 1930s

When Amstislav came under Soviet rule, Rabbi Pruskin returned to his hometown of Kobrin, and after the death of the city's rabbi, Rabbi David Greenberg, he was appointed as rabbi. In 1923, he founded the Kobrin Yeshiva. Although the yeshiva served primarily younger students (aged thirteen to seventeen years old) to prepare them for study in other yeshivas, there were some students who remained into their mid-twenties. For many years, Rabbi Yosef Leib Nendik served as mashgiach ruchani, and Rabbi Shlomo Mattes also had a position on the yeshiva's faculty. The institution was relatively small, never exceeding a student body of one hundred. [6]

In 1939, after the Soviet occupation of Poland, the government closed down the yeshiva as well as the city's beis yaakov , giving Rabbi Pruskin intense heartache that led to his death that year. [3]

Family

Of Rabbi Pruskin's three sons, only one survived the Holocaust, that being his son Rabbi Avraham Pruskin. He escaped to America with refugees from the Mir Yeshiva together with manuscripts of his father's classes, which were published by R' Pesach's grandson under the title Shiurei Maran Rav Pesach MiKobrin (Lectures of Rabbi Pesach of Kobrin). His daughter, Rivka Zukovsky, died in October 2004. [7]

Related Research Articles

Moshe Mordechai Epstein

Moshe Mordechai Epstein (1866–1933) was rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Knesseth Yisrael in Slabodka, Lithuania and is recognized as having been one of the leading Talmudists of the twentieth century. He is also one of the founders of the city of Hadera.

Hebron Yeshiva

Hebron Yeshiva, also known as Yeshivas Hevron, or Knesses Yisroel, is a yeshiva devoted to high-level study of the Talmud. It originated in 1924 when the roshei yeshiva and 150 students of the Slabodka Yeshiva, known colloquially as the "mother of yeshivas", relocated to Hebron.

Yaakov Kamenetsky

Yaakov Kamenetsky, was a prominent rabbi, rosh yeshiva, posek and Talmudist in the post-World War II American Jewish community.

Isser Zalman Meltzer

Isser Zalman Meltzer, was a famous Lithuanian Jewish and Belarusian Orthodox rabbi, rosh yeshiva and posek. He is also known as the "Even HaEzel"—the title of his commentary on Rambam's Mishneh Torah.

Meir Zlotowitz

Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz was an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, author and founder of ArtScroll Publications.

Boruch Ber Leibowitz

Boruch Dov Leibowitz, known as Reb Boruch Ber Leibowitz, or just Reb Boruch Ber was a rabbi famed for his Talmudic lectures, particularly in that they were rooted styled in the method of his teacher Chaim Soloveitchik. He is known for leading Yeshivas Knesses Beis Yitzchak in Slabodka and Kaminetz.

Moshe Feinstein Great Orthodox Jewish Rabbi of the 20th century

Moshe Feinstein or Moses Feinstein was an American Orthodox rabbi, scholar, and posek. His rulings are often referenced in contemporary rabbinic literature. Feinstein served as president of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis, Chairman of the Council of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of the Agudath Israel of America, and head of Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem in New York.

Nosson Tzvi Finkel (Mir)

Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel was an American-born Haredi Litvish rabbi and rosh yeshiva (dean) of the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem, Israel. During his tenure from 1990 until his death in 2011, the Mir Yeshiva grew into the largest yeshiva in Israel with nearly 6,000 undergraduate students and over 1,600 avreichim. According to one estimate, he taught 25,000 students over his lifetime. Although he suffered from Parkinson's disease for the last 28 years of his life, experiencing involuntary spasms and slurred speech, he did not let his illness stop him from learning Torah for long hours, delivering regular shiurim (lectures), and fund-raising for his yeshiva around the world. He raised an estimated US$500 million for the Mir during his tenure as rosh yeshiva. He was a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Degel HaTorah. He was known for his Torah erudition and his warmth and concern for his students.

Radin Yeshiva

The Radin Yeshiva, originally located in Radun, Poland, was established by Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan in 1869. Because of its founder's nickname, the institution is often referred to as Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim of Radin. Its successors officially adopted this name.

Nosson Meir Wachtfogel

Nosson Meir Wachtfogel, known as the Lakewood Mashgiach, was an Orthodox rabbi and long-time mashgiach ruchani of Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, New Jersey. He was one of the primary builders of that yeshiva into a world-class institution, enacting the goals and direction set forth by its founding rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Aharon Kotler. He also helped establish "branches" of the Lakewood Yeshiva in dozens of cities, and pioneered the community kollel concept with the opening of combination Torah learning/outreach centers in the United States and other countries. A revered mentor and guide to thousands of students over a career that spanned more than 50 years, he was a strong advocate and prime example of musar study and working on one's spiritual self-development.

Yeshivas Knesses Yisrael (Slabodka) Mussar school in Lithuania

Yeshivas Knesses Yisrael was a yeshiva located in the Lithuanian town of Slabodka (Vilijampolė), adjacent to Kovno (Kaunas). It was known colloquially as the "mother of yeshivas" and was devoted to high-level study of the Talmud. It functioned from the late 19th century until World War II.

Yeshiva Ohr Elchonon (Jerusalem) Yeshiva ketana, yeshiva gedola school

Yeshiva Ohr Elchonon is a Lithuanian-style Orthodox yeshiva in Jerusalem. The yeshiva was initially established in 1953 in Los Angeles, California, by Rabbi Simcha Wasserman, who named it in memory of his father, Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman, rosh yeshiva in Baranowicz, who was murdered in the Holocaust in Lithuania. The yeshiva operated in Los Angeles from 1953 to 1977, when it was sold to the Chabad movement. After Wasserman immigrated to Jerusalem, he established another Yeshiva Ohr Elchonon in the Ezrat Torah neighborhood in 1979. A second branch was opened in the Romema neighborhood in 1993. Ohr Elchonon enrolls hundreds of boys in yeshiva ketana and yeshiva gedolah, and close to 100 married men in its kollel. Additional yeshiva ketana branches have been established in the Israeli cities of Modiin Illit, Rishon Letzion, and Tiberias.

Slutsk-Kletsk Yeshiva School in Belarus

Mesivta Rabsa Eitz Chaim DiSlutsk, colloquially known as the Slutsk-Kletsk Yeshivah was an Orthodox Jewish yeshiva in Europe, founded in Slutsk, then part of the Russian Empire, and later moved to Kletsk in the Second Polish Republic, in 1897. The yeshiva was founded by the Ridvaz and famously led by Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer and Rabbi Aharon Kotler.

The Lomza Yeshiva was an Orthodox Jewish yeshiva in Łomża, Poland, founded by Rabbi Eliezer Bentzion Shulevitz in 1883. Rabbi Yechiel Mordechai Gordon served as the yeshiva's rosh yeshiva for many years, and Rabbi Moshe Rosenstain served as the mashgiach.

Moshe Rosenstain Lithuanian rabbi

Rabbi Moshe Rosenstain was an Orthodox Jewish rabbi in pre-World War II Eastern Europe. He served as mashgiach ruchani in the Lomza Yeshiva in Poland.

Yeshivas Knesses Beis Yitzchak-Kaminetz Yeshiva school in Second Polish Republic

Yeshivas Knesses Beis Yitzchak was an Orthodox Jewish yeshiva, founded in Slabodka on the outskirts of Kaunas, Lithuania, in 1897. The yeshiva later moved to Kamyenyets, then part of Poland, and currently in Belarus, and is therefore often referred to as the Kaminetz Yeshiva or simply Kaminetz. The yeshiva was famously led by Rabbi Boruch Ber Leibowitz.

Dov Tzvi Heller

Dov Tzvi Heller commonly called by his Yiddish name, Ber Hirsch Heller, was a rabbi and mashgiach ruchani at the Slabodka Yeshiva in Europe, as well as the father-in-law of Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetzky and Rabbi Avraham Grodzinski.

Yosef Leib Bloch

Rabbi Yosef Yehudah Leib Bloch was a prominent rabbi and rosh yeshiva in Telshe (Telšiai), Lithuania.

Yitzchak Isaac Sher

Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac Sher was the rosh yeshiva of the Slabodka Yeshiva in Lithuania and Bnei Brak. He was the son-in-law of Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, the Alter of Slabodka.

References

  1. Finkelman, Rabbi Shimon; Scherman, Rabbi Nosson (December 1986). "Origins of Greatness". Reb Moshe: The Life and Ideals of HaGaon Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (First ed.). Mesorah Publications, Ltd. p. 31. ISBN   0-89906-480-9. As time went on, he amassed a vast amount of knowledge and, combining this with diligence and his newly acquired sharpness of mind, Reb Pesach went on to become one of the foremost gaonim of his day.
  2. "Rabbi Pesach Pruskin (Kobriner)". Geni.com. Geni.com . Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 "This Day in History – 11 Cheshvan/November 4". Hamodia.com. Hamodia . Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  4. Pekier, Rabbi Alter (1995). Reb Aharon (Abridged ed.). C.I.S. Publishers/Lakewood Cheder School. p. 35.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Finkelman, Rabbi Shimon; Scherman, Rabbi Nosson (December 1986). "Origins of Greatness". Reb Moshe: The Life and Ideals of HaGaon Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (First ed.). Mesorah Publications, Ltd. ISBN   0-89906-480-9.
  6. Wein, Berel (September 2001). Faith & Fate: The Story of the Jewish People in the Twentieth Century (First ed.). Shaar Press. p. 120. ISBN   1-57819-593-4.
  7. "רבקה זוכובסקי". Myheritage.com. Retrieved 9 October 2020.