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Rov Aron Solomon Zalmen was born in the city of Nemirov in the district of Brisk d'Lita, to his father, Rov Yakil Klepfish, a great scholar, Torah teacher and a respected person. Authors of his time described him as: “a great rabbi in the Torah, he learned and taught and did a lot, his deeds and exploits were known to everyone, and he was highly respected by all his loved ones and acquaintances”. In order to benefit the public and increase and glorify the Torah, Rov Yakil published important books, among them: Zayit Ra'anan, Margaliot HaTorah, Mlo A'omer, Meshivat Nefesh and new interpretations on the Maharal, the Gaon Rov Aryeh Leyb Zunz, the Rabbi of Plotsk.

At the end of his life, Rov Yakil moved to Warsaw and became one of the city's most beloved and respected persons. His house became the Torah salon in the capital city; and also for his famous sons, the great Torah scholars, well-known people, who publicized the Klepfish family all over the country.

His eldest son, the Gaon Rov Shmuel Zaynvil, was a rabbi and a judge in the Warsaw community and was among the great teachers. His students served as rabbis and judges in large communities in Poland. He served in his high position for dozens of years. His second son, Rov Avrom Mayer, studied with the Gaon Rov Yosef Dov Halevi Soloveitchik and the Gaon Hanatziv at the Volozhin yeshiva, and later he was appointed Rabbi in the city of Yablonka, near Visuki Mazovia, in Lomzshe district. His son Rov Shmeril was not engaged in teaching, but he was considered one of the greatest of the city of Warsaw and one of his sharp and brilliant scholars.

His son, Rov Aron Shlomo Zalmen, was a Gaon, sharp and well versed in all aspects of the Torah. He was appointed as a rabbi in the city of Vizna in his youth, and later received the position of the Av Beit Din [Head of the Jewish court] in the city of Goworowo.

Rov Aron Shlomo Zalmen received his elementary education from his great father in his native city of Nemirov and when they moved to Warsaw, his brother the Gaon Rov Shmuel Zaynvil took care of his education, and under his supervision and guidance Rov Aron Shlomo Zalmen grew up and rose to great heights in the virtues of the Torah. He amazed his family and acquaintances with his great perseverance and excelled as a sharp mind and great author of new interpretations, with only a small part of his work reflected in his composition Beys Aron, which contains wonderful interpretations on Talmud tractates.

When he reached the age of marriage, the famous rabbi Rov Tsvi Halevi Levinsky of Stevisk, chose him as the son-in-law for his dearest daughter, and there he continued to study Torah with wonderful diligence and perseverance. (Rabbi Tsvi Halevi Levinsky immigrated to Jerusalem at the end of his life and is the father of the esteemed Goelman family of Idvovna, Stevisk and Bnei Brak).

In the year 5626 or thereabout, Rov Aron Shlomo Zalmen was elected, through the intercession of his influential father-in-law, as rabbi in the city of Vizna. In this city he completed the writing of his book Beys Aron and was crowned with the approval of the Gaons Rov Khayim Elazar Vaks, Av Beit Din of Kalish; Rahal Rakovsky, Av Beit Din of Plotsk and Rov Yosef Heber, Av Beit Din of Idvovna, the father-in-law of his brother Rov Avraham Mayer. The aforementioned Gaons

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praised and glorified the young author, and this is what Rov Chaim Elazar Vaks wrote about him: “A great rabbi in Torah and reverence, and I have seen the great men of the land who testify and say about him that he is like a spring that increases in everything related to the Torah and reverence”. And the Av Beit Din of Plotsk further added: “I already know him for several years and I know that he studies Torah also at nights and he is full of knowledge of the Torah”.

Although this book was ready and arranged for printing in Vizna, the author was unable to publish it, probably because of his poverty and oppression, because the salary he received from the city of Vizna was not enough for his livelihood. Therefore, he accepted the offer of the city of Goworowo, a bigger and richer city than Vizna, and moved there to serve as Av Beit Din in the mid-1930s.

At the beginning of his tenure in Goworowo, he fulfilled his life's mission and founded a yeshiva for talented students. His idea was to establish a large yeshive in a national format, which would bridge the Judaism of Lita and its methods of studying the Torah, with hasidic Polish Judaism. Even though he was a staunch “opponent” and never allowed the Sephardic version to be included in prayer, even though many Ger Hasidim were concentrated in Goworowo, Vurke and Alexander. Nevertheless, he appreciated the glory of hasidism and wanted to complete it with the in-depth study of the Lithuanian learning system. However, this wonderful idea of his did not come to fruition due to a serious illness that put him on the deathbed for many years. Indeed, this idea was adopted by the great rabbi Rov Elieyzer Shulevitz, who founded the great yeshiva in Lomzshe.

Details on the rabbi's illness were written, with the consent of his brother the Gaon Rabbi Shmuel Zaynvil, in his book: “Even though he has been ill for more than ten years, nevertheless he gathered his strength and continued to write new interpretations and record them in his book”. This consent was written in the year 5645 and was attached to the above-mentioned essay when it was published in the year 5646.

Rov Aron Shlomo Zalmen passed away in 5645 and he did not reach old age. He was not privileged to see his book published, and it was published only after his death, by his son Rov Moshe, and his son-in-law, Rov Yaakov.

His son Rov Yakil, a Torah scholar and God-fearing Jew, lived all his days in Goworowo and perished during the destruction of the city during the Holocaust.

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He was a descendant of a privileged family of Gaons and rabbis, generation after generation, back to Shimon the righteous. His father, Rov Tsvi Aryeh Ha'koen, was a rabbi in Nemirov and author of the books Tahalichot Hayabsha, novel interpretations of Jewish law for walkers on both weekdays and on Shabbat and for those who travel in carts drawn by horses, as well as on the Pareve Mashin, which are scattered throughout the Talmud and commentaries, and in the first and last Shulkhan Orekh, as well as the book Tahalukhot Hamayim, laws for sailors. He was the son of the holy Rabbi Rov Yitzchak Isaac, known as “Kohen Gadol”, who authored the book Sha'arey Yitskhak on the wisdom of Kabole, and was a student of Rov Mordechai Malkhovits, and the grandson of Rov Yaakov Yehuda Kahana, Av Beit Din of Valpi, who was a diligent student of the Rebis Rov Shlomo of Karlin and Rov Yaakov Yosef of Ostra, the author of Toldot, and later he was a loyal student of the HaKhozeh of Lublin.

Although the family's origin was from Polish Lithuania, the whole family adhered to the hasidic movement and remained loyal to it and its leaders all their lives, and thanks to their greatness in the Torah they added grandeur to the movement and were honored even by its great opponents such as Rov Hirshel Orenstein, Av Beit Din of Brisk, Rov Aryeh Leyb, the author of Yefei Einaym, and Rov Shaul Epstein, Av Beit Din of Kosova, father of the mother of the Gaon and author of Khazon Ish.

Rabbi Yankev Yehude Kahana, Av Beit Din of Goworowo, authored in his youth the book Veshav Hakohen, in which he resolves all the doubts of the authors of the commentaries about the Talmud that remained unsolved. Because of his great humility, the author asked not to be relied upon with the Law and signed his name only with his initials. There are two approvals for this book: from the Gaon Rov Eliyahu Shik, Av Beit Din of Lida, Yager and Kobrin, and Mr. Shmuel Zaynvil Klepfish, a judge in Warsaw, who was a close relative.

His first position in the rabbinate was in the city of Yandziev in the Ostrov Mazovietski district. From there he moved to serve as a rabbi in the city of Stradyn, however, in the rabbinic world he is known as “the author of Veshav Ha'koen of Goworowo”, a place where he worked for decades, and where he was also known as a saint and an exemplary man. He was appointed a rabbi in Goworowo after the death of Rov Aron Shlomo Zalman Klepfish.

Rov Yankev Yehuda brings up the matter of a special regulation that was set up in Goworowo in the matter of ritual slaughter, which was prohibited and boycotted by all the important householders: “the ritual slaughterers are not allowed to butcher the cattle each by themselves, they are obliged to be together during the shekhite and the inspection and to show their knives to each other even the for the sheep and goats. And if a slaughterer and an inspector are not both in the house, the other slaughterer and inspector and is obligated to show his knife to the Rov, Av Beyt Din, before he performs the shekhite, besides what is required to show his knife to Rov Damta as is customary. In addition, each and every one of them must bring the lungs before the rabbi for examination”. The writing was done in front of the Maharilag (perhaps it was Rabbi Yehuda Leyb Gordon, Av Beyt Din of Lomzshe)

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and it is presented in the book Be'er Moshe by Rabbi Moshe Nachum Yerushalimski from the time he served as Av Beit Din of Ostrolenke.

Rabbi Rov Yankev Yehuda was in contact by letter, regarding questions and answers in Jewish law with the greats of his generation, with the Gaon Rov Malkhiel Tanenbaum, Av Beit Din of Lomzshe, the author of Divrei Malkhiel, with Rov Moshe Nakhum Yerushalimski, the author of Birkat Moshe, and with Rov Nissan Kupershtok, Av Beit Din of Makove, the author of the book Ani Ben Pakhma.

In the book Stirat Zkeynim by Rov Khayim Mordkhe Bronrot, Av Beit Din of Tskhekhnov and the Chief Av Beit Din of Tel Aviv, Rov Yankev Yehude Kahana is described as a Gaon, an innocent saint, and an exemplary man who was well known for his sharpness and depth knowledge of the Torah.

The cover of the book Veshav Ha'koen by Rov Kahana-Butsian

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I had the privilege of spending nearly one year in the close company of Rov Yankev Yehude Batshan, the old Goworowo rabbi. I was reckoned among the young men who studied with the Rov in his daily Talmud lesson. He was already a man of many years. Very tall, a lean, slender figure with a high forehead and a sparse little beard. He moved slowly, walking step by step, and spoke quietly and carefully, as if he were counting every word. I never saw him angry, he smiled often and although he was occupied with his study, he always loved a witty word and a jest.

The material situation of the town at that time was not bad. Trade with the Christian princes brought in a good revenue. And the relationships with the gentiles were good. The old Prince Markvitski, from Brizshnia, had a custom of sending wagons of free potatoes to the Jews on the eve of Peysakh. The Rov's material situation was therefore also good and secure.

The Rov's apartment was communal – two rooms built onto the wall of the beys-medresh [study-house]. The Rov's son Mendl and his family lived in one room and in the other room, which was divided off by a curtain, half served as the beys-din [Jewish court] and the other half as the Rov's sleeping chamber.

Above the Rov's apartment, the next story, were the prayer rooms [shtiblekh] for the Ger and the Aleksander hasidim. The hasidim of both Rebis' dynasties were mutually intolerable and disputes between them were constant. But the Aleksander hasidim were richer and stronger than the Ger, among them well-heeled and eminent proprietors, and they supported the Rov in every way possible, because the Rov was an Aleksander Hasid and very respected in the Rebi's court. It was said that for each difficult question in the Aleksander court, the “Joy of Yisroel” told them to ask the Goworowo Rov. He was the jurist for the Aleksander hasidim.

The Rov ran his house very frugally, although he was well-situated, and had married all his children and grandchildren to wealth. One of his

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grandchildren was Rov Branrot, the Tshekhanover Rov and later the head of the beys-din of Tel Aviv.

I once sat with the Rov during a lawsuit before the rabbinic tribunal. When the two litigants laid their 10-groshen judgement fees on the table, the Rov quickly took the money and put it deep in his pocket. The thing made me wonder. I asked him why he put the fee away. He smiled and answered, “Once I decided a case when the losing litigant grabbed his fee and ran off. Since then, I am more careful.”

Another time I accompanied him on a Friday night to an event for a new-born son at Bertshe Kolodzsher's on the Long street. Passing my house, the Rov stopped and told me to go home. I moaned, “I want to go with Rov to the house, because a Talmud scholar should not walk alone at night for apprehension about demons.”

The Rov laughed. “The Goworowo demons do not consider me a Talmud scholar.”

The town in general held the Rov in high esteem because he was by nature a good and he rejected glory, hated disagreement and he did not shout. The town also recognized his scholarship and honesty, which was an example for all the neighboring towns.

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Even in the previous generation, the generation before the Holocaust, there was rarely to be found a person with so much influence as was incarnate in the personal charm and noble characteristics as was the last Goworowo Rov, Rebi Alter Meyshe Mordkhe Burshtin may God avenge his blood. A wonderful patriarchal figure, a person with tact and feeling, sharp-minded and magnanimous. Full of impulse and creative energy. His scholarship and shrewdness were well known throughout Poland. Indeed, he was called upon from far corners of the land to settle complicated and difficult issues of Jewish law, and people from near and far came to him for advice on Jewishness, community and business matters and found solutions and consolation.

For almost 30 years the Goworowo Rov steered his congregation through still waters and calm and stormy eras. Sure and firm he held the rudder in his hand and laid his seal on the entire community and even on the personal lives in the town.

He was not only the greatest spiritual leader of the generation, he also loved the town and its householders. He rejected with disdain more than one proposal to take over a rabbinic seat in larger towns. When they proposed, early on in his 30-year stay, that he take the rabbinic position in Ostrow-Mazavietsk after Rebi Mayer Dan Plotski, although it was a large town and a heritage rabbinate – he expressed his wish in front of his intimate friends: As long as the proposal is not carried out, because it would be hard for him to part from the quiet, idyllic life in this lovely, venerable little town.

The Rov operated his “realm” high-handedly. He took himself to be, and felt it himself, that he was the leader not only of the religious Jews but of all the Goworowo residents. When he found out that the Bund local was burning the electric light on Shabes, he sent for the Bund leader Leybl Kersh, and convinced him that in Goworowo one may not violate the sabbath. When a soccer team wanted to arrange a match on a Shabes and he was not able to convince them in a good way, the Rov organized a group of Jews on the sports field who drove them away. Although a pursuer of peace, he was prepared to go through fire for a just cause, not considering sentiment or relationships.

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Rov Alter Meyshe Mordkhe Burshtin may God avenge his blood, the last Goworowo Rov

Even gentiles were drawn to the Rov with great respect. At times, his interventions with the local or provincial authorities were helpful.

The Rov's home was a community house for the town Jews and for guests from outside it. There were always people in his court room, some with a question to ask, or a community issue, or simply to pour out their hearts. The Rov's house was run with generosity and hospitality and served as an example for the inhabitants of Goworowo.

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Rov Alter Meyshe Mordkhe was born in Ruzshan near Narev, in sav-reysh-lamed-tes by his father Rebi Issakhar Dov Burshtin (Ostrozshinski), a Talmud scholar and observant Jew, and his mother Rivke.

From childhood he was seen as a genius for his clear head and sharp sense. His innovations in Torah surprised scholars. The Warsaw Rov, Rov Petakhiye Harenblum once heard a repeat of one of his explications and sent for him to come to Warsaw to spend a long time and could not be separated from him. The “Ruzshan genius” did not want to travel away to study in a yeshive, as he could not parted from his beloved parents. He sat for whole days and nights in the town study-house and studied with diligence.

At 17 he married his wife Genendl, the daughter of the great goan Rebi Avieyzer Shikara, one of the great scholars in the area, the son-in-law of the Vale Rov, Goan Rov Avrom Aron Hendl, the rebi and teacher of the Ger hasidic court and of the Radzin Rebi may God avenge his blood.

He boarded with his wealthy father-in-law for two years. Afterwards he was invited by the Amshinov Rebi, Rov Menakhem, and took up the task of rearing and teaching his children. Hasidim continually tell of the great affection that Rebi Menakhem demonstrated to the “Rozshaner genius”. They considered him as their child and protected him like a treasure. After Rebi Menakhem's passing, he was further retained as fellow-scholar by Rov Yosele Amshinov of blessed memory and a house-friend of the entire Vorke community. He was the one who examined the education of all the candidates for sons-in-law in the Yorke court, and later also for other hasidic courts.

In sav-reysh-samekh-tes Rov Alterl took up the first rabbinic post in in Tshervin after the Tshervin Rov, Rov Branrat. He remained there for three years, and earned so much love and friendship that up until the Second World War the Tshervin Jews clung to him as to a father.

His second rabbinic seat was in Goworowo, where he spent the First World War. The town was burned down. He contributed his portion to the rebuilding of the town and protected it from the evil demons of destruction from the Russians, Germans, Bolsheviks and Halertshikes.

His first daughter Blume was married to the Vorke-Narazshine Rebi's son Rov Arele Tenenboym, a grandson of “Yeshresh Yankev”. Her second husband was Rov Borekh Tshizsheves grandson Butshe Eydlshteyn, from the richest family in Mlove. The other daughter married a young hasidic scholar and prosperous merchant.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, he remained in the town until the last of the householders left the place. He spent a few months in Bialystok, then he went to Vilne where he developed a wide community activity. His home was the gathering place for all the rabbinic refugees, and was united in great friendship with the goan Rov Khayim

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Ozer Grodzenski. Rebi Elkhonen Vaserman and with the official town rabbi Rov Sender Itsik Rubenshteyn. The president of the Lodz Jewish council Leybl Mintsberg often came to his home as well as senator Trakenhaym from Warsaw. When the Germans took Vilne the Goworowo Rov experienced the contemporary beatings and was in the ghetto there for several weeks. He was rescued by a miracle and fled in a German automobile to Grodne. There he was taken in as the rov for the ghetto. From Grodne he fled back to Bialystok and remained in the ghetto until its liquidation.

For 17 days in the month of Av, that month of sadness and devastation, the filthy hands of the Nazi murderers prepared the Goworowo Rov, while he sat and studied. And they took him to the death camp Treblinke. May God avenge his blood.

The Rov's daughter Yeta with her husband Meyshe Goldfeder, may God avenge their blood		The Rebitsn Rokhl of blessed memory

The Rov's Blume, may God avenge her blood		Rokhl (left) and Zelda, the Rov's younger daughter, may God avenge their blood

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The Gaon Rov Alter Meyshe Mordkhe Burshtin, Av Beys Din of the Goworowo Jewish community in Poland, was one of the greatest rabbis, a genius and a magnificent sage, a hasid and a humble and wonderfully knowledgeable man in all the Torah professions.

He compiled a large essay of “queries and responses” from questions that had been sent to him from all over Poland, which was never published, and was burned in the torching of the town of Goworowo in the year 5700 (1939).

He served in the town of Goworowo for nearly thirty years. Many communities, among them large and important ones, appealed to him to accept the position of Av Beys Din there, but he refused to part with his town where he lived in peace and honor, devoting all his time to studying the Torah.

The Rov may God avenge his blood was highly respected among all strata of the people of his town and the surrounding area. His beautiful appearance and his stature left a great impression on everyone who saw him. The late Rov of Amshinov, Rov Yosele said of him that, like previous righteous men, he also did not blemish anything in the image of God that the blessed God did endow him with.

When the damned Germans occupied Goworowo, they looked for the Rov may God avenge his blood and wanted to kill him. He managed to hide, and from his hiding place he led his community onward. But he didn't want to leave it, until they deported the entire population of the town, and then he fled to Bialystok, and from Bialystok to Vilna.

In Vilna he was one of the leaders of the committee of refugee rabbis who fled from enemy lands; he excelled in his good qualities, in saving and leading that committee. The late Gaon Rov Khayim Ozer Grodzhinski liked him very much. He often called him to his home to enjoy his teachings and to consult with him on all the questions that were brought before him.

Due to family reasons, the Rov may God avenge his blood did not flee to Japan and remained in the Vilna ghetto during the terrible hardships. He was the first to escape from the Vilna Ghetto to Grodno. In Grodno he was appointed as the Av Beys Din and served there for over a year. When the enemy arrived in the Grodno ghetto, he returned to the city of Bialystok. In Bialystok his house served as the place for the committee of sages. All the rabbis and members of the yeshives who sought refuge in Bialystok, always gathered at his house. Also, the famous civic activists Reb Leybl Mintsberg, who was a delegate in the Polish Sejm and the head of the Lodz Jewish community, as well as the senator Reb Yankev Trokenheim, always consulted him and were like members of his household.

The Rov of Goworowo strongly supported the Jewish “resistance” fighters in Bialystok. Together with Rov Yitzhak Levin, the son-in-law of Rov Mishkovski of Krynik, they were engaged in founding an armed society of young Torah students. The teacher from the “Beys Yankev” school for girls, Ms. Kaposta, bought guns outside the ghetto and placed them in the Rov's house, in order to distribute them among the Torah students. He strengthened the hearts of the Torah students with passionate sermons to stand against the wicked with sword and bow.

In the month of Av, 5737, the holy Rov was taken to Treblinka. May God avenge his blood.

(From “HaPardes”, booklet 12, year 21, Elul 577 - September 1947).

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