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There are few sources about the life and work of Rabbi gaon Meir HaLevi Hurvits. He appears for the first time as the rabbi and head of the rabbinical court in Wysokie–Mazowieckie in 1833, in connection with the publication of Avot DeRabi Natan together with the commentaries Sheney Avraham and Ben Avraham, by Rabbi Eliyahu (son of Avraham) of Delyatitsh (Nowy Grod district). Rabbi Meir HaLevi Hurvits of Wysokie was one of the renowned rabbis and rabbinical scholars who approbated its publication.

Rabbi Meir HaLevi died in 1852 or 1853. He is mentioned in a eulogy by Rabbi gaon Yosef Khaver, head of the rabbinical court of Knyszyn and Jedwabne, who was eulogizing his father Rabbi gaon Yitzchak–Ayzik Khaver, head of the rabbinical court of Tykocin and Suwalki. Rabbi Yosef Khaver was also eulogizing Rabbi Meir HaLevi Hurvits and the rabbis and gaons Aryeh–Leyb Shapira, head of the rabbinical court of Kaunas, and Eliezer Yitzchak Frid, head of the rabbinical court and rabbi in Volozhin, both of whom had also died that year.

Rabbi Khanokh Zundt of Bialystok, author of HaAnafim, also writes of Rabbi Meir HaLevi: “The honored rabbi, as bright as the sun, famous, righteous, and modest…labors day and night studying the holy Torah, hates greed, and is busy with charity and aid…”

These eulogies by rabbis and gaons are evidence that Rabbi Meir HaLevi Hurvits, besides being a great scholar, was modest and unassuming, righteous, charitable, cared for the poor, and was a faithful shepherd of his flock.

The long work Berit Olam by his son, Rabbi Ayzik Ya'akov Veler, contains the following details about his life and work:

Rabbi Eliezer Shlomo came from a large family of gaons and righteous men. He was a grandson and great–grandson of the famous gaons Rabbi Reuven, head of the rabbinical court in Bialystok, and of the gaon and righteous man Yosef, author of Rosh Yosef (a commentary on several tractates) who was the son–in–law of the famous gaon Rabbi Moshe Kremer, head of the rabbinical court in Vilna. The author of Berit Olam adds, “I heard from my beloved father and teacher, the gaon (may his righteous memory be for a blessing) that his ancestors could trace their lineage to the holy Rashi.”^[2]

It should be added that for a time Rabbi Yosef was the chief religious judge in the community of Tykocin, near Wysokie. His father–in–law, Rabbi Moshe Kremer, came from the family of the Vilna gaon (Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna).^[3]

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Rabbi Eliezer Shlomo Veler was head of the Wysokie rabbinical court for forty years (1852–1892), and was renowned in this community and its surroundings.

Rabbi Ayzik Ya'akov was born in Wysokie in 1856, to his father, Rabbi gaon Eliezer Shlomo and his mother Miriam, the daughter of the gaon Rabbi Yitzkhak–Ayzik Khaver, head of the rabbinical courts in Ruzhany, Vawkavysk, Tykocin, and Suwalki, where he died in 1853. Rabbi Ayzik Ya'akov was named after his maternal grandfather. His teacher of Torah and commandments was his father, the local rabbi, as he himself recounted in his book Berit Olam.

When he was of marriageable age, he married the daughter of Ya'akov (son of Shim'on) Mushkin of Kletsk (Slutsk district, Minsk province). He stayed in Kletsk after the wedding, and studied Torah in the large House of Study there. That was also where he gained expertise in Jewish law, from the local Rabbi gaon Shalom Dov Hernzon.

Sometimes, when he came to see his father, he would spend some time with his uncle, the Rabbi gaon Moshe Rabinovitsh, head of the rabbinical court of Jedwabne. When he stayed with his uncle, he served as a legal authority, and also helped him organize the writings of his father, the gaon Rabbi Yitzchak Ayzik and his uncle, the gaon Rabbi Yosef Khaver, who preceded him as the head of the rabbinical court of Jedwabne.

When his father, Rabbi Eliezer Shlomo, died in 1892, Rabbi Ayzik Ya'akov was appointed the town rabbi of Wysokie. At first, the hasidim opposed him, as the Veler family – like that of the gaon Rabbi Yitzkhak–Ayzik Khaver and both of his sons – Yosef and Moshe – were extreme misnagdim.^[4] However, before too long, the hasidim, too, came to like and admire the young rabbi. In addition to his intellectual ability and knowledge of the Torah, he had outstanding qualities and a pleasant temperament; these moderated the resistance to his position.

In 1896, his book Berit Olam appeared; it comprised responsa to the four sections of the Shulkhan Arukh. This work made him renowned among the great rabbis and heads of yeshivas at the time. His commentaries and explanations are very clear, and help to clarify the most difficult issues. He gained the approbation and admiration of the great rabbis of the area, including the gaons Rabbi Malkiel Tenenbaum, head of the rabbinical court of Łom&#ża (author of the Divrey Malkiel responsa), and Rabbi Eliyahu Barukh Kamey, head of the rabbinical court of Ciechanowice and later head of the renowned Mir yeshiva.

According to Berit Olam, he corresponded with the greatest scholars of Jewish law, as well as with commentators on Talmudic issues. Among the best known of these were the gaon Rabbi Khayim HaLevi Soloveichik, head of the Volozhin yeshiva and later head of the rabbinical court of Brest–Litovsk in Lithuania, and later with his relative, Rabbi Mordekhai Białobłocki, of Valfi (Grodno Region).^[5]

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Rabbi Ayzik Ya'akov Veler died after a major illness in the same year that his book was published; he was only forty years old.

Three rabbis eulogized him: Rabbi Shimon Dov Anulik, head of the rabbinical court of Tykocin; Rabbi Dov Menakhem Regensberg, head of the rabbinical court of Dąbrowa, and Rabbi Menakhem Yonah Gitelman, head of the rabbinical court of Sokoły. All the shops in Wysokie were closed on the day of his funeral, and the artisans stopped work.

The last rabbi of Wysokie–Mazowieckie was born in the town of Horodok, in Vilna County. He was one of the outstanding students of the renowned Volozhin yeshiva; as a youth, he studied with the two great heads of this illustrious yeshiva: the gaon Rabbi Naftali Zevi Yehuda Berlin (known by the acronym Natziv), and the gaon Rabbi Khayim Soloveichik.^[6]

In addition to being an outstanding scholar, Rabbi Perlman was also famous for his wisdom, his ethical character, and his good manners. He married a daughter of the distinguished Bunimovich family of Volozhin, famous throughout Lithuania. After his marriage, he studied for several years in a special kollel within the Volozhin yeshiva that was earmarked for outstanding scholars who came recommended.^[7] The kollel was funded by Yisra'el Brodsky, the renowned Jewish millionaire of Kiev, who willed a specific sum for the purpose, under the management of his son Lazar. When the millionaire Lazar Brodsky once met the young Rabbi Aharon Ya'akov Perlman, he was very impressed, and gladly continued to support the kollel in Volozhin.

After the death of Rabbi Ayzik Ya'akov Veler, there was heated debate among the leaders of the Jewish community of Wysokie about the selection of a new rabbi. The misnagdim defeated the hasidim; they insisted on selecting a rabbi who would follow the Lithuanian tradition. The gaons Rabbi Hirshl Rabinovitch (head of the rabbinical court of Kaunas) and Rabbi Moshe Danishevski (head of the rabbinical court of Slobodka), decided, with the approval of the aged Rabbi Shmuel Mohilever (head of the rabbinical court of Bialystok), to select Rabbi Aharon Ya'akov Perlman as rabbi and head of the rabbinical court of Wysokie–Mazowieckie.

Rabbi Perlman was an excellent choice. During the forty years that he served as rabbi in Wysokie, he fulfilled his role as the spiritual leader of the community and the town rabbi, with great success and devotion. He became famous throughout the region, and was consulted by rabbis of the surrounding towns about secular matters as well as religious issues. Rabbi Perlman was a gifted Hebrew writer, and had good knowledge of Russian, the language of the authorities. He was active in the community, a fine preacher, and was well–loved by the community. He also became renowned as an expert in religious law and a mediator in disputes. Various communities – mainly from the Łom&#ża and Bialystok areas – asked him to arbitrate, and his decisions were fully accepted by all parties. The following incident in Jedwabne is an example.

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Rabbi Aharon Ya'akov Perlman (may God avenge his blood)

Rabbi Perlman was a Lover of Zion from his time as a student in the Volozhin yeshiva, and was always very interested in the Zionist movement and the new Jewish community in the Land of Israel.^[8] He was a member of the Zionist movement, and voted for the Mizrachi party. However, for tactical reasons, he

[Page 142]

never joined that party officially, did not participate in Zionist conventions, and was not active in Zionist affairs. His reasoning was that, as the rabbi of the community, he had to be devoted to the entire community, regardless of its factions, and not exhibit sympathy towards any particular political party. On the other hand, he was very active in public areas that were directly connected with religious life and his rabbinical responsibilities. In 1910, he participated in the convention of the rabbis of Łom&#ża County, which had to elect a delegate to the national convention of rabbis in St. Petersburg; the delegate was Rabbi Malkiel Tenenboym, head of the rabbinical court of Łom&#ża. He also took part in the rabbinical convention of 1916, during the German occupation of World War One. He presided over both conventions, and had great influence over all the topics discussed at these conventions.

When Polish sovereignty was restored, he was active in Bialystok County. He participated in many conventions aimed at strengthening Judaism in independent Poland, and was one of the leaders who fought for protecting the rights of Jews, when these rights were being diminished by the central and regional authorities. When the economic boycott of Polish Jews strengthened in the late 1930s, and pogroms broke out against Jews in Wysokie–Mazowieckie (1936), Rabbi Perlman was one of the chief leaders who did their best to curb the damages inflicted on the Jewish community by the crowds and the authorities. He was active in various institutions in Bialystok and in Warsaw aiding those affected by the pogroms, and was in close contact with the JDC.

Rabbi Aharon Ya'akov Perlman continued to be a faithful leader and shepherd during the disasters that overtook the Jews of Europe during World War Two. He stayed with his flock until the very last moments of the catastrophe. He was in the Wysokie ghetto and the Zambrów camp, and surrendered Wysokie his pure, holy soul in Auschwitz, along with the thousands of Wysokie Jews who died in the gas chambers of the Nazis, may their names be blotted out. May God avenge his blood.

Rabbi Yisra'el was born in Sokoły, near Wysokie. His father was one of the community's leaders and a hasidic leader as well. He studied at the Łom&#ża yeshiva, and at the Kaunas kollel. He married the daughter of the Rabbi of Sokoły, the gaon Rabbi Mordechai (Sender's son).

He was a great expert in biblical law and issues of permission and prohibition, as well as in official government law; he was familiar with worldly and commercial matters. His appointment as auxiliary rabbi in Wysokie–Mazowieckie was seen as compensation to the local hasids, whose numbers and public influence was constantly increasing.

Rabbi Yisra'el Khayim Olsha's life was short. His death at an early age was a blow to the town's Jews. The greatest rabbis of the region participated in his funeral and gave eulogies.

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Rabbi Gershon Broide (may his memory be for a blessing)

He came to Lithuania as a young man, and soon became renowned for his scholarship as well as for his influence over the young scholars who clustered around the gaon Rabbi Ayzik Ya'akov Veler, author of Berit Olam. He soon became famous throughout the region as a brilliant young intellectual; rabbis and heads of yeshivas discussed Jewish law with him. He married the daughter of Rabbi Simkha HaKohen Kaplan, one of the important householders of the town, who liked his daughters to marry famous scholars.

Rabbi Gershon Broide was a long–time Lover of Zion, and had even known one of the founders of that movement, Rabbi Shmuel Mohilever (head of the rabbinical court of Bialystok), with whom he had had long conversations about religious matters and settlement in the Land of Israel. When Theodor Herzl founded the Zionist organization, Rabbi Broide was one of the organizers of a local Zionist group in Wysokie. Most members of this group were scholars.

When the Mizrachi opened a branch in Wysokie (1918), he joined that national–religious movement and was one of its ideological leaders. The fact that Rabbi Broide joined the Mizrachi influenced the ultra–religious community as well as many of Wysokie's hasidic Jews, who were concentrated in the synagogues of the Ger and Aleksander hasidic groups.^[10]

In 1917, in parallel with the Balfour Declaration, the Zionist Central Committee in Warsaw sent a petition to the authorities of Germany and Austria – the two powers of the Central Alliance – to recognize the rights of the Jews to the Land of Israel.^[11] He left Wysokie after the death of his wife, married the widow of Rabbi Magentsa, and was appointed Rabbi of Suwalki.

Rabbi Broide died suddenly in one of the houses of study in Lithuania, while it was full of people. This was during World War Two, when the Germans started exterminating the Jews in Aktions; he was delivering a eulogy for the Jewish community of Suwalki, when he suddenly collapsed and died.^[12]

One of the most important religious figures of Wysokie–Mazowieckie was Rabbi Ya'akov Slodki (better known as Ya'akov, Levi's son). He was an auxiliary rabbi, and often participated in religious court processes. He substituted for the local rabbi in case of need.

He was a great scholar, and would study two pages of Talmud daily at the Ger synagogue. His study partner was the learned Rabbi Alter Gorzelczany. He was very astute, had a fine voice, and served as cantor during the High Holidays.

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Rabbi Eliezer (Leyzer) Yehuda Boiman (may God avenge his blood)

He set an example for the entire town: he was unusually observant, scholarly, modest, and honest. People who wanted to emphasize the character of a person who was decent and observant would use Rabbi Leyzer Yehuda as an example. In spite of his poverty, he always radiated joy, and inspired those who were depressed and needed encouragement.

Menakhem Mendel Litevka was born in Wysokie–Mazowieckie in 1856. Like most other Jewish boys of the time, he was educated in traditional kheyders in his town. As there was no yeshiva in Wysokie, he went on to Bialystok and studied the Talmud and commentaries (Rashi and later commentators) in that city's yeshiva.

It was there that he became acquainted with Asher (son of Khava), who introduced him to the world of enlightenment and Hebrew teaching. He started as a private tutor in Hebrew and Bible for the rich Frumkin family, who owned an estate near Wysokie–Mazowieckie.

He came to Warsaw in 1891, bearing a recommendation from the Frumkins to wealthy Lithuanian Jews who had moved to Warsaw. These Jews, though adhering to Jewish commandments and tradition, were aware of the new trends among Jews, especially in the large cities, and wanted to teach their children the basics of Hebrew and Hebrew literature, in addition to religious studies. Several of these families hired Litevka as a tutor.

In Warsaw, he began to publish poems and epigrams in Hebrew–language publications, especially in HaTsfira, where he published a series of feuilletons with the general title “From Here and There.”

His book HaZamir –a collection of poems and epigrams – appeared in 1895, thanks to the assistance of his friend M. B. Rozen, another native of Wysokie. Rozen was a successful businessman in Warsaw who was friendly with Hebrew writers, and supported young Jews who had left the world of religious studies and come to Warsaw for a general secular education. Rozen himself had a broad education and was a writer in his own right; he wrote the introduction to Litevka's book, in which he praised the talent of the latter as a writer and intellectual.

HaZamir consisted of 48 poems and 60 epigrams, which were unusually witty and pointed. Although most of Litevka's work was just versification rather than true poetry, he used clear language, and young people enjoyed them. Especially remarkable were the poem “Moses Did not Die” (commemorating Baron de Hirsch), a poem dedicated to the famous German writer Lessing (a friend of Moses Mendelssohn's), and poem about his love for Jerusalem.

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Litevka became ill during World War One, and could no longer support himself by teaching. Some of his former students helped him a bit financially, and he was able to live, though very modestly. The support was organized by the famous rabbi and scholar Dr. Shmuel Avraham Poznanski.

Menakhem Mendel Litevka died in 1920, at age 65. HaTsfira published the following brief eulogy (no. 16, 1920): “Mr. Menakhem Mendel Litevka has died at age 65. He was a teacher, a Hebrew writer and poet, and one of the last old–style scholars.”

His book HaZamir is in the Jewish National Library of Jerusalem, with the following handwritten dedication by the author: “Fondly dedicated to the renowned scholar of rich and varied achievement, Dr. Sh. Poznanski, by his admirer, the author.”

Translator's Footnotes:

1. The Hebrew term gaon (brilliant scholar, genius) is often appended to the name of a well–regarded rabbi. Return
2. Shlomo Yitzchaki (1040 – 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud and commentary on the Hebrew Bible. His work is used to this day. Return
3. Elijah ben Solomon Zalman (1720–1797), known as the Vilna Gaon or Elijah of Vilna, was a Talmudist, halakhist, kabbalist, and the foremost leader of non–hasidic Jewry of the past few centuries Return
4. The misnagdim (literally, “opponents”) were members of a movement that resisted the rise of Hasidism. They were particularly concentrated in Lithuania, with Vilna as their center. Return
5. Brest–Litovsk is now in Belarus. I was not able to identify the town of Valfi. Return
6. The Volozhin yeshiva was a prestigious Lithuanian yeshiva located in Volozhin (now Valozhyn, Belarus). It was founded by a student of the Vilna Gaon, and trained generations of scholars, rabbis, and leaders. Completed in 1806, it was the first modern yeshiva and served as a model for all yeshivas that later opened in Lithuania. Return
7. The kollel is an advanced group for full–time, advanced study of the Talmud and rabbinic literature. Return
8. The “Lovers of Zion” (Hovevei Tziyon) was a group of organizations that were founded in 1881 in response to the Anti–Jewish pogroms in the Russian Empire, and were officially constituted as a group in 1884, with the aim of promoting Jewish immigration to Palestine and advancing Jewish settlement there. They are considered the forerunners and foundation–builders of modern Zionism. Return
9. A rabbi specializing in Jewish religious law (moreh–tzedek) in a community is sometimes termed an “auxiliary rabbi.” Return
10. The Ger hasidic group was founded by Yitzkhak Meir Alter (1798–1866) in the town of Góra Kalwaria, Poland. It is one of the largest and most influential hasidic groups today. The Aleksander hasidic group originated from the city of Aleksandrow Lodzki, Poland, in the early 19^th century, and was second only to the Ger group in numbers before World War Two. Return
11. The Balfour Declaration was a a public statement issued by the British government in 1917 announcing support for the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, then an Ottoman region. Return
12. Aktions were German mass operations to round up Jews before deporting and murdering them. Return

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