Jacob Avigdor

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Rabbi Dr. Yaakov (also Jacob) Avigdor (March 20, 1896–March 30, 1967) was a

Ashkenazi community in Mexico
.

Rabbi Jacob Avigdor

Life

Jacob Avigdor was born into a rabbinic family in

Nazi occupation. Being District Rabbi of about 80 surrounding villages, he also served as head ("Av") of the Beth din
.

He officiated at the wedding of future

Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin and Aliza Arnold in May of 1939 which took place at the Eden Hotel in Truskavets
, Poland, which was a summer resort near Drohobych.

During the

Holocaust, he lost his wife, his two daughters and his brother David the Rabbi of Andrychów, among many family members. After his liberation from the Buchenwald concentration camp, Avigdor became extremely active in the efforts of rescue and rehabilitation of Jewish refugees in postwar Europe. After immigrating to the U.S. in 1946, he accepted a pulpit in Brooklyn, New York, and six years later he was offered the rabbinate of Mexico, holding that position until his death in Mexico City
in 1967.

Rabbi Dr. Avigdor was much consulted on

Yiddish periodicals, and published books in that language, Hebrew and Spanish. The Holocaust Museum at Yad Vashem
holds a Hebrew calendar written by him from memory during his stay at Buchenwald (to view it, see below External Links).

Reuniting with son Isaac

Rabbi Avigdor's son, Rabbi Isaac C. Avigdor, also survived the war (at

DP camp in Italy, he wrote a document for his widow as witness. As she relocated (to Germany
) and wanted to remarry, the senior Rabbi Jacob Avigdor, at the time head of a local Jewish court, needed proof that the woman's husband had died. She gave Rabbi Jacob the formal document written by Rabbi Isaac. This is how the father found out the son was still alive, allowing them to reunite, many months after the war.

Rabbi Isaac included this story in a book about his father's life, Faith After the Flames: The Life of Rabbi Dr. Yaakov Avigdor and details are included in a published book review.[1] The story of the father, the son, and the widow is also told by Holocaust writer Esther Farbstein in her Hidden in Thunder: Perspective on Faith, Halachah and Leadership, volume 1 [2]

Rabbi Isaac C. Avigdor (1920-2010),[3] son of Rabbi Jacob Avigdor, was a community rabbi in Connecticut "for a half century". For decades he was a columnist in The Jewish Press.[4]

Works

  • Nauka Talmudu -1928 (Polish, with subsequent Hebrew and
    German
    editions, three volumes)
  • Chelek Yacov - 1929 (Hebrew)
  • Metafizyka Judaismu -1931 (Polish,
    Lviv University
    )
  • Haemunah V'haphilosophia‡ -1933 (Polish)
  • Sheelot Utshuvot Abir Yacov -1934 (Hebrew, two volumes)
  • Harambam V'shitato B'philosophia‡ -1935 (Polish)
  • Ayeh Sofer -1937 (Hebrew)
  • Torat Halashon -1938 (Hebrew)
  • Sheelot Utshuvot Heshiv Yacov -1939 (Hebrew)
  • Al Hashchitah‡ - 1939 (Polish)
  • Techiyat Yacov -1950 (Hebrew)
  • La Cronología Judaica -1954 (Spanish)
  • Maimónides, su Vida y Obra -1955 (Spanish)
  • [Chelek Yacov Aleph - 1956 reprint of Chelek Yacov]
  • [Chelek Yacov Bet - 1956 reprint of Ayeh Sofer and Techiyat Yacov].
  • Kuntres Kol Yacov -1956 (Hebrew)
  • Shevichtav V'sheval Peh (In Shrift Un Vort) - 1957 (Yiddish, volumes I and II) and 1958 (Yiddish, volume III)
  • La Vision del Judaismo -1959 (Spanish, two volumes)
  • Machshoveh V'loshn (Gedank Un Shprach) -1959 (Yiddish)
  • Reflexiones Sobre la Torá -1960 (Spanish)
  • Dee Yiddishe Froy/La Mujer Judía - 1960 (Yiddish and Spanish)
  • Hegyon Yacov -1962 (Yiddish, two volumes)
  • Torah Sh’veal Peh -1962 (Yiddish, volume I) and 1963 (Yiddish, volume II)
  • Haskel V'yadoa -1962 (Hebrew, volumes I and II) and 1963 (Hebrew, volume III)
  • Der Yiddisher Shabos/El Sabado Judío -1963 (Yiddish and Spanish)
  • Haemuna Hanotzrit L'or Hahalacha Hayehudit -1964 (Hebrew)
  • Oifzatzn Un Esayen -1965 (Yiddish)
  • Mikdash Meat -1965 (Hebrew)
  • Mul Baayot Hador -1965 (Hebrew, volume I) and 1966 (Hebrew, volume II)
  • Síntesis del Talmud: Exposición de su Desarrollo Histórico -1966 (Spanish, two volumes)

(‡ Hebrew translation of the Polish title per biographical source in the Hebrew language; original Polish title unknown)

References

  1. ISSN 0892-1571
    .
  2. ISBN 978-965-726505-5
    .
  3. ISBN 978-1467115964
    . Rabbi Isaac Avigdor .. (1920–2010)
  4. ^ Rabbi Dr. Isaac C. Avigdor (West Hartford, CT) (May 10, 2002). "In honor of Shavuot, 5762". The Jewish Press. p. 42.

5. Avigdor, Jacob. Sheelot Utshuvot Abir Yacov. (Autobiographical essay as preface). Reprint of 1934 edition. New York, 1949. {trans: Questions and Answers "Abir Yacov"}.

6. Farbstein, Esther. The Forgotten Memoirs. Shaar Press, New York, 2011.

7. Gelber, N.M. Sefer Zikaron L'Drohobych, Boryslaw V'ha-seviva. Tel-Aviv, 1959. {trans: Book of Remembrance to the Jews of Drohobych, Boryslaw, and Surroundings}.

8. Wunder, Meir. Meore Galitsyah: Entsiklopedyah L'chachme Galitsyah, Machon L'hantsachat Yehadut Galitsyah, Jerusalem, 1978. {trans: Encyclopedia of Galician Rabbis and Scholars}.

External links

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