Mendel Weinbach

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Rabbi
Mendel Weinbach
Yahrtzeit
27 Kislev, 5773[2]
BuriedHar HaMenuchot
ResidenceKiryat Mattersdorf
SemikhahYeshiva Torah Vodaas

Chona Menachem Mendel (Mendel) Weinbach (September 24, 1933 – December 11, 2012)

Jewish rabbi, educator, author, and speaker. As the co-founder and dean of Ohr Somayach Institutions, a Jerusalem-based yeshiva for newly-observant Jewish men, he was considered one of the fathers of the modern-day baal teshuva
movement.

Early life

Chona Menachem Mendel Weinbach was born in

Torah Vodaath.[8]

In 1953 Weinbach was one of 10 Torah Vodaath students recruited by Rabbi Simcha Wasserman to open a

Beis Medrash Elyon in Monsey, New York.[3][7][9]

In 1960

Auschwitz two days later. She was raised by her uncle and aunt in New York City.[10] In 1962 the couple decided to settle in Israel, becoming one of the first American Orthodox Jewish families to do so.[4] They were one of the first families to settle in the new neighborhood of Kiryat Mattersdorf in northern Jerusalem, where they raised 12 children.[4]

Teaching career

In his early years in Israel, Weinbach studied in the

Givat Ada and Netanya, and became involved with American P'eylim, which was opening yeshivas and Talmud Torahs for new immigrants.[4] He was a member of a group of avreichim (married Torah students) from the Mir, Brisk, Hebron and other yeshivas who volunteered to study with new immigrants who did not fit into regular Israeli yeshivas.[3] Around 1965 Weinbach decided to open a yeshiva for baalei teshuva together with Rabbi Meir Schuster. Rabbis in the yeshiva, located in the Talpiot neighborhood of Jerusalem, included Rabbi Shimshon Dovid Pincus and Rabbi Yoel Schwartz. The yeshiva was forced to close due to the Six-Day War in 1967.[4]

Yeshivas Ohr Somayach

Rabbi Nota Schiller, co-founder and rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Ohr Somayach.
Ohr Somayach, Jerusalem entrance sign

In 1972

Shema Yisrael belonged to the entire Jewish people rather than a single institution.[13] Weinbach and Schiller continued on as rosh yeshivas, developing the program into a Talmud study program with the goal of facilitating the adoption of Orthodox practices among formerly secular Jewish students integrate into Orthodox Jewish communities.[4][9] Other Torah scholars invited to serve as rosh yeshivas over the years included Rabbi Dov Schwartzman[4] and Rabbi Aharon Feldman.[6]

Weinbach oversaw the growth of Ohr Somayach into different branches, beginning with the 1984 establishment of its Israeli division.

kiruv initiatives, including the Jewish Learning Exchange (JLE), a summer learning course for young men from overseas; the Ohr Lagolah teacher-training program; and the Mentors Mission, which brings American Jews to Israeli for kiruv activities.[3]

Weinberg taught at Ohr Somayach from its founding in 1970 until his death in 2012.[4][14]

Other activities

Weinbach delivered a shiur every Tisha B'Av that lasted two to three hours.[6] He also spoke at women's events such as the annual Shmiras Halashon Rally, and at the Mercaz Bais Yaakov high school and seminary in Geula, which he co-founded with Rabbi Yeshaya Lieberman.[4]

In the 1970s[6] he wrote articles for The Jewish Press under a pseudonym and also ghostwrote columns for Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin and Member of Knesset Rabbi Menachem Porush.[15] Later, under his own name, he wrote articles for The Jewish Observer[7] and wrote and edited English-language books on a variety of topics, including the Land of Israel, Jewish prayer, and the writings of the Chofetz Chaim. Shortly before his death he completed a two-year project, The Essential Malbim on Chumash and Nach.[9]

In his last years, Weinbach taught a daily Daf Yomi shiur in Kiryat Mattersdorf.[4]

Weinbach was diagnosed with cancer in 2007 but continued to teach, lecture and write as he underwent medical treatment.[6] His health deteriorated several months before his death.[6] On December 11, 2012, the same day that a prayer gathering was to be held at Yeshivas Ohr Somayach on his behalf, he died.[1] He was eulogized in the main synagogue in Kiryat Mattersdorf and at Yeshivas Ohr Somayach.[4] He was buried on Har HaMenuchot in Jerusalem.[1]

Selected bibliography

References

  1. ^ a b c Klein, Asher (11 December 2012). הַמַּחֲזִיר בִּתְשׁוּבָה: הגאון רבי מנדל וינבך זצ"ל הלך לעולמו [The One Who Brought Others Back to Judaism: HaGaon Rabbi Mendel Weinbach, zt"l, Has Passed Away] (in Hebrew). jdn.co.il. Retrieved 17 December 2012.
  2. ^ "Year in Review 5773". Hamodia. Sep 16, 2013. p. 30.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Marks, Yehudah. "Harav Mendel Weinbach, zt"l, Rosh Yeshivas Ohr Somayach". Hamodia, 13 December 2012, p. A20.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Sever, Yechiel (13 December 2012). "NEWS: HaRav Mendel Weinbach zt"l". Dei'ah VeDibur. Retrieved 16 December 2012.
  5. ^ Hoffman, Rabbi Yair (3 December 2009). "The ArtScroll Revolution: 5TJT Interviews Rabbi Nosson Scherman". Five Towns Jewish Times. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Heimowitz, Rabbi Yehuda. "The Long Short Road: How Rav Mendel Weinbach ztz"l led thousands on the journey of a lifetime". Mishpacha, December 19, 2012.
  7. ^ a b c d Wolpin, Nisson. "Memories from a Boyhood Chaburah". Hamodia Israel News, January 3, 2013, p. 21.
  8. ^ "Meet the Staff: Rabbi Mendel Weinbach". Jewish Learning Exchange. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
  9. ^ a b c d Hoffman, Dovid (12 December 2012). "Rav Mendel Weinbach zt"l". Yated Ne'eman. Archived from the original on 17 December 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2012.
  10. ^ Weinbach, Sheindel. "I was Number 43". Hamodia Features, 8 January 2009, p. C2.
  11. ^ Donn, Rabbi Yochanan. "Conscience of the Lost Jews: Harav Yisroel Noah Weinberg, zt"l". Hamodia. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
  12. ^ a b "Today's Yahrtzeits and History – 11 Shevat". matzav.com. 26 January 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
  13. ^ "Did You Know That #16". Ohr Somayach International. 1 March 2003. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
  14. ^ "Hertz Family Foundation Announces $1.5 Million In Grants Made to Yeshiva Ohr Somayach in Jerusalem". PR Web. 5 November 2009. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
  15. ^ Schiller, Mordechai. "Still Crying Because It Hurts". Hamodia Israel News, January 3, 2013, pp. A20–21.

External links

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