BDE: Rosh Yeshivas Chidushei Harim-Tel Aviv, A Mir-Shanghai Student, Passes Away At 103

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — The Torah world and in particular the Gur Chasidus mourn the passing of Rabbi Yosef Halevi Hurwitz, the Rosh Yeshiva of the Chidushei Harim yeshiva in Tel Aviv and one of the last surviving students of the Mir yeshiva from Shanghai. Rabbi Hurwitz was nearly 103 years old at his passing.

Rav Yosef was born in Tishrei 5680 (October 1919) to a Gerrer family in a small Polish hamlet far away from Gur. The family used to attend a local shtiebel of Scranewitz and would sometimes travel to Gur. Rav Yosef managed to visit the Imrei Emes prior to the Holocaust in Gur. He fled to Japan from the Nazis and joined the Mir yeshiva, studying there under the tutelage of Rabbi Chaim Shmulevitz.

For over 60 years he taught in Yeshivas Chidushei Harim in Tel Aviv. He was described as “totally immersed in learning, always thinking deeply about his learning. If he smoked a cigarette while studying and got involved in the subject, he would get a burn from the cigarette.” Talmidim added that he would ask forgiveness from trees if he bumped into them while walking immersed in his Torah thoughts.

Over the years he had thousands of disciples. One of them, Rabbi Yisrael Erlich, told Bechadrei Charedim that “it wasn’t possible to really know him, because he wasn’t here, he was constantly hovering in shas. Asking him a question was only possible if you could devote two hours to the answer. He would start quietly explaining the gemara or the Tosfos and then describe the rishonim and achronim, Rashba, Ritva, Ktzos and Nesivos. He could spend two days on a Tosfos, breaking it into particles and then rebuilding it with the help o rishonim and achronim. If you asked him about times bygone, regarding Yom Kippur in Shanghai [when he fasted two days] he would smile and knock on the gemara, as if to say: how will that help you understand the sugya….he was a rare combination of Polish genius and Novhardok ascetism, Mirrer scholarship and authentic Gur chasidus.”

Rav Yosef, who was buried on Har Hazeisim on Tuesday night, is survived by children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren following in his illustrious path. May his memory be blessed.