Rav Yeruchem Levovitz zt"l
הרב ירוחם בן אברהם ליבוביץ זצ"ל
Sivan 18 , 5696
Rav Yeruchem Levovitz zt"l
Rabbi Yeruchem Halevi Levovitz was born in 1873 (5633 in the Jewish calendar) in Lyuban, Minsk Voblast, Belarus (near Slutsk) to Avraham and Chasya Levovitz. He received his education in the yeshivas of Slobodka and Kelm.
He was a disciple of Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, and Rabbi Simcha Zissel Ziv of Kelm.
In 1897, at the urging of the Alter of Slabodka, he left Slabodka to study in Kelm under Rav Simcha Zissel Ziv. He spent the next eight months with the Alter of Kelm until he passed away. His connection with the Alter of Kelm changed his life. The Alter of Kelm was in failing health but he still continued to give to his Talmidim. He had a special group of Talmidim with which he shared his remarkable insights. They were called Devek Tov and Rav Yeruchem was a part of that. Indeed, later in his own teaching Rav Yerucham would share special ethical insights with his own Talmidim in a manner in which the Talmid was to realize that this ethical insight was something special. On erev Tisha B’Av, Wednesday July 26, 1898 – the eve of Tisha B’Av, shortly after Shma, Rav Simcha Zissel was Niftar.
After learning in Kelm, Rav Yeruchem married his wife Rivkah, a relative of Rav Simcha Zissel, from Ozovnet.
He then returned to Kelm and studied Shas and Shulchan Aruch in great iyun for the next eight years.
Rav Yeruchem then joined the Chofetz Chaim’s Kollel Kodshim in Radin. Soon, in 1903, he was appointed the Mashgiach of the yeshiva in Radin.
Rav Yeruchem then became the Mashgiach at the yeshiva in Kelm. He would travel back to his home in Ozovnet for the Yomim Tovim. In 1908, a son was born to him. He named him Simcha Zissel after the Alter of Klem. In that year, he received a letter to come to Mir and be the Mashgiach with the new Rosh Yeshiva, the Alter’s son.
Rav Eliezer Yehudah Finkel, the Rosh Yeshiva of Mir, appointed him as the Mashgiach of the Mir Yeshiva. It was the position he was to retain for the rest of his life.
After the war, Rav Yeruchem travelled to Slabodka in order to re-establish that great citadel of Torah until the Alter of Slabodka was able to return from the Ukraine. He also served as the Mashgiach of Ponovitch afterward.
He was the spiritual leader of the Mir Yeshiva in Poland until his death in 1936. His disciples were said to have followed his every word, never doing anything that they "felt" he would not want them to do. Most of the leaders of the yeshivas of inter-war Poland were Rav Yeruchem's disciples. They would come on occasion to visit him and seek his advice.
After World War II, much of orthodox Jewry in Europe was wiped out, along with their many yeshivas (Jewish schools of higher learning). One of the only yeshivas to survive as a whole body was the Mir Yeshiva, which managed to escape miraculously to Shanghai, China, and then on to America. Many of the new leaders of the American and Israeli yeshivas in the post-war period were students of the Mir, and thus followers of Rabbi Leibovitz.
Some of his better known disciples include Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe, Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz, Rabbi Aryeh Leib Malin, Rabbi Dovid Povarsky, Rabbi Abba Berman, Rabbi Zelik Epstein and Rabbi Shimon Schwab.
His many discourses and lectures are preserved for posterity in the following sefarim: "Daas Torah," "Daas Chochma U'Mussar," "Shvivai Daas," and "Sifsai Daas on Pirkei Avos" which are a staple of many yeshiva libraries today, as well as many Orthodox Jewish households.
He died on the 18th of Sivan in the year 1936 at the age of sixty-three. He is buried in the town of Mir, Belarus. His grave site (recently rebuilt by his family) is a common destination for the many Jewish tourists who visit the decimated cities of pre-war Europe.
Most of his family escaped the Nazis and made it to America where they were pioneers of the rebuilding of Orthodox Jewry in the United States. His son, Rabbi Simcha Zissel Halevi Levovitz, was the founder of a yeshiva in Boro Park, Brooklyn, and was responsible for publishing the writings of his father, as well as publishing the writings of Rabbi Simcha Zissel Ziv. his son in law Rabbi Yisroel Chaim Kaplan, former rosh yeshiva in Brisk, Lithuania, came to America and served as rosh yeshiva in Beth Medrash Elyon in Monsey, NY. Reb Yeruchom Levovitz's grandson then went on to open the famous Beth Hatalmud yeshiva. Reb Leib Maalin served as the rosh yeshiva until his passing, when the leadership of the yeshiva was passed to Rabbi Chaim Visokier. After Rabbi Visokier's passing, Reb Naftali Kaplan became the rosh yeshiva along with Rabbis Sholom Menashe Gotlieb, Binyomin Zeilberger and Yisroel Perkowsky.
SAYINGS
Talmidim of the Mir who became Rabbonim and had taken other positions of Torah instruction would often return to the Mir Yeshiva for Elul and or the Yomim Noraim. They would arrange for lodging and then come to the Yeshiva.
Rav Yerucham would give a moshol from real life incidents. He explained that when he had visited the spas at Marienbad Czechoslovakia, the new arrivals would come bathe in the mineral rich and curative waters of the spa and then they would arrange for their lodgings. By Torah it should be no different.
Rav Yeruchem had a desire that the Yeshiva should be run in the time-tested manner of the Yeshivos of old tzu halten a yeshiva oif a fartzeitigen oifen.
https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/featured/1293121/rab-yerucham-levovitz-ztl-81st-yahrtzeit.html
Stories of Rav Yeruchem Levovitz zt"l
Rav Wolff Rosengarten Zt'l of Zurich went to learn for a short time in Mir Yeshiva, where he was drawn close by the mashgiach HaRav Yeruchem Leibovitz zt'l, who honored him with an aliya on Yom Kippur. Reb Yeruchem also seated Reb Wolff at the table for his va'adim. (In Mir, the custom was that for the va'adim, which were informal mussar talks which the Mashgiach gave in his home, the outstanding and senior bochurim sat around the table while other bochurim stood around it.)
On Simchas Torah, Reb Yeruchem would deliver a shmuess before the beginning of the hakofos, and between each of the hakofos he spoke again briefly. The rejoicing in the yeshiva was extremely spirited and it would raise the bnei hayeshiva to sublime spiritual heights. To give some idea of the atmosphere, Reb Wolff would repeat some of the short thoughts he heard from Reb Yeruchom on the Simchas Torah that he spent in Mir.
The posuk says, "Hashem, remember us, may He bless; may He bless beis Yisroel . . . " Reb Yeruchem asked why the expression "may He bless" is repeated. He answered that when Hashem remembers us, that in itself is a blessing, hence the first use of the phrase. Then, we ask further, "May He bless beis Yisroel . . . "
Another of the things which Reb Yeruchem said on that Simchas Torah was, "The entire Torah is a match with which to kindle a blaze of love in the hearts of Klal Yisroel for their Father in Heaven!"
http://www.chareidi.org/archives5760/bechukosai/features.htm
Reb Wolff related that a bochur once came to Reb Yeruchem during the aseres yemei teshuvah to ask for money from the yeshiva's TaT fund [which assisted impoverished bochurim with their expenses] to enable him to buy a new pair of shoes. Reb Yeruchom responded, "You don't need them. It's not so bad."
On motzei Yom Kippur, Reb Yeruchem called the bochur and gave him the money. In response to the bochur's amazement he explained, "You came during aseres yemei teshuvah in order to exploit my fear of the impending judgment to influence me to give you tzedokoh money. I didn't want that factor to affect my judgment."
http://www.chareidi.org/archives5760/bechukosai/features.htm