Rav Yehoshua Menachem Arenberg zt"l
הרב יהושע מנחם בן יצחק אריה אהרנברג זצ"ל
Adar 24 , 5736
Known As: Teshuvos Dvar Yehoshua
Father's Name: Yitzchok Aryeh Arenberg
Rav Yehoshua Menachem Arenberg zt"l
Born on the 12th of Teves (1904) in Kemecse, Hungary, Rav Yehoshua Menachem studied in his youth under Rav Naftoli Hertz Bombach, Av Bais Din of Samvur, mechaber of Givas HaLevona, and later under Rav Meir Arik, Av Bais Din of Turna. He was awarded semicha and ordained as a Rav and posek by Rav Horowitz of Provozhna and Rav Firer of Krasnu.
He married one of Sarah Schenirer’s first talmidos, Hinda Leah Birnbaum of Cracow, and continued his studies there till the war. He was imprisoned in the Buchnia Ghetto and escaped to Slovakia, from where he made his way to Hungary. Together with his daughters he was among those saved on the Kastner train, arriving in 1944 in Switzerland in Caux.
He immigrated to Eretz Yisrael in Elul of 1945 and settled in Yerushalayim. In 1947, he was asked to serve as the chief Rav of the Cyprus refugee camps, and he stayed there till the camps were disbanded.
In 1949, he returned to Eretz Yisrael and was appointed chief Rav of Tel Aviv and Yaffo. He was Rav Unterman’s chief advisor in matters of Even Ho’Ezer in which he was most proficient. He considered himself a Belzer Chassid and was very close with Rav Aharon of Belz.
When he passed away, Rav Aharon delivered the hesped in the Belzer Yeshiva on Aggripas Street in Yerushalayim and he was buried on Har HaZeisim. He left behind three daughters and six volumes of responsa, as well as a sefer, Roshei Besomim, on the Roke’ach.
Some of his piskei halocha include:
· It is ossur to return lands conquered by Yisrael in any way (Vol. II Siman 48);
· It is mutar to open bottles on Shabbos and Yom Tov (Vol. II Siman 45);
· Nowadays the ikar mitzva of lighting Chanuka candles is indoors and not outdoors (Vol. I Siman 40)
It is mutar to dance on Shabbos as is the Chassidic custom (Vol. II Siman 42;4).