Rav Yehuda Eizik Eliezer Hirschowitz zt"l
הרב יהודה אייזיק אליעזר בן אריה הירשוביץ זצ"ל
Elul 27 , 5631
Rav Yehuda Eizik Eliezer Hirschowitz zt"l
Rav Yitzchok Eizik Eliezer Hirschowitz was born in 5631/1871 in Libau (Liepaja), Latvia, a city influenced by neighboring Germany. His parents, Rav Aryeh and Liba Devora, saw the Haskola (Enlightenment) sweep their older children away from Yiddishkeit. Determined to save the youngest, they sent Yitzchok to the local chareidi school.
When he graduated at age fifteen, the headmaster sent him on to Telshe. He became a star talmid. In 5654/1894, he married the daughter of the Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Eliezer Gordon.
He wrote Kerem Bais Yisrael (in German with Hebrew characters), on building a Torah home. Meitav Higoyon is a collection of letters of Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch, translated into Hebrew from Gothic German.
In 5666/1906, he became Rav of Talsen in Kurland, where he had grown up. He remained until he was forced to flee in World War I, ending up in Minsk.
Part of the Radin Yeshiva had also taken refuge in Minsk, and the Chofetz Chaim asked him to teach them.
Later, Rav Yitzchok moved with his students to Ihumen, but the Soviets soon took over and he helped his talmidim sneak across the border to Lithuania. Once they were safe, he took his own family and followed them.
In Lithuania, he headed Yeshiva Ohr Yisrael of Slabodka. Later he moved back to Telshe as principal of Yavneh Teachers’ College for Men.
Rav Yitzchok wrote a Jewish history book from a Torah viewpoint. Halichos Am Olam Volume I, from Creation until Eliyahu HaNovi’s ascent to Shomayim, was published in 5689/1929. The notes he prepared for later volumes were destroyed during the Holocaust.
In 5686/1926, he became Rav of Wirballen. The Nazis conquered the city in 5701/1940 and began the mass slaughter of Lithuanian Jews. Rav Yitzchok fled to Kelm.
On the twenty-seventh of Elul 5701/1941, Rav Yitzchok was taken by the Nazis from the famous Talmud Torah. All sang Adon Olam together as they marched to their deaths.
His three daughters and four of his sons and their families were also murdered.
Hashem yinkom domom.
One son, Rav Yehuda Lieber Hirschowitz, survived and immigrated to Eretz Yisrael.
Zecher tzaddik livrachah
www.hamodia.com/features/day-history-27-elulseptember-22/
