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Photo Caption: Rabbi Avroham Yaakov Brill, Credit: Needed

Photo Caption: Mrs. Shayna Brill, daughter of Rav Yitzhak Yaakov Rabinovich (d. 1919) better known as Reb Itzele Ponevezher, the founder of the Ponevezh Yeshiva, Credit: Needed

Informational Credit: Rabbi Yitzchok Shteierman, Borough Park, Brooklyn

Bio Information:
Avraham Yaakov Brill [son of Pesach] was already known to be a genius in his youth. When he was 18 years old, he already was familiar with Talmud and the commentaries, and his memory was phenomenal. It is told that when he was a lad of 16, he had memorized the entire Bible (Tanach). When I was a boy, my grandfather told me a story about the genius Avraham Yaakov Brill. According to Jewish legend, when a fetus is in his mother’s womb, an angel teaches him the entire Torah, and when he is born and comes out into the world, the angel taps him beneath his nose, and thereby the infant forgets all he had learned. In the case of Avraham Yaakov, the angel forgot to tap him, and therefore he immediately knew the entire Torah.
Avraham Yaakov Brill was an expert not only in Talmud, but also in various branches of science, such as geography, history, statistics, and in remembering dates. His expertise was for the sake of knowledge. He was nicely familiar with algebra and engineering, even though he never formally learned these subjects from textbooks.
During the years of his youth, there were a number of students in Sokoly, such as Rafael Gutman, the son of Herzl, Rabbi Menachem Yonah’s grandson. Over time, Rafael became the manager of the Warsaw Community Education Department and wrote a few textbooks, such as “Bible Stories” in the Hebrew and Polish languages. In addition to Rafael, other students in Sokoly were Yaakov Yanovsky and Leibel Semieticzky, the son of Hershel Aharon Yonhas. There were educated people there who had learned externally, and among them was the teacher Meckleshtzil, who was a very sharp mathematician. When all these students would come home to their parents for their vacations or holidays, they would meet in the hall next to the new synagogue, where the genius Abraham Yaakov would sit and learn, memorizing texts in his pleasant chant. The students would surround the genius and ask him complicated questions in mathematics. Avraham Yaakov would solve all the problems orally, without a problem and without having to write them down.
Avraham Yaakov Brill was the son-in-law of the brilliant, famous Lithuanian Rabbi Itchele Ponevezher. He could have received rabbinic positions in the large cities, due to his brilliance and the fact that he was Rabbi Itchele’s son-in-law, but the genius preferred to deal in trade and not to turn the Torah into an ax for digging. He managed large businesses.
During Kransky’s time, Avraham Yaakov Brill was in Leningrad, where he managed important businesses, but after the Bolshevik Revolution, he lost all his money to nationalization. He returned, naked and with nothing, to Poland. Over time, thanks to the efforts of Rabbi Zvi Dachovitz from our town, Avraham Yaakov Brill was offered a rabbinical position in a synagogue in New York, Anshei Lubavitch in Brownsville, where he served until his last days. He passed away in the prime of his life, after World War II.
Source: Translated from the  Sokoloy Yizkor book, Credit: Needed 

Photo Credit:  Moreshes Chachmei America’s Archives

Rav, New York City d. 13 Kislev, 1931 (5692) Anyone with information is asked to send it in. See CONTACT page for details. Directions to kever: Mount Lebanon Cemetery 7800 Myrtle Avenue Glendale, NY 11385 Location: Block: A, Section: 4, Society: Ohab Zedek, along Machpela Avenue Photo Credit: Shmuel Amsel, Brooklyn, NY

Rav, New York City d. 11 Elul, 1932 (5692) Rav Kaftal came to the United States in 1909 from Mlawa, Poland. Anyone with information is asked to please send it in. See CONTACT page for details. Directions to kever: Mount Lebanon Cemetery 7800 Myrtle Avenue Glendale, NY 11385 Location: Block: Park Block, PAth: 16, along […]

Photo Caption: The Rav Levitan passed away on the boat en-route to New York harbor and was buried here, Source: The Jewish Morning Journal, September, 27, 1921

Photo Caption: Rabbi Chaim Shaul Levitan, Credit: Asher Lowy, Brooklyn, NY 

Photo Caption: Rav Chaim Yissachar Gorodinsky, Credit: Julie Warshawsky and David Yerushalmi

Photo Caption: The Rav’s grandfather was Rav Yitzchok Yaakov Reines (d. 1915), founder of Yeshiva Torah Vodath of Lida, Poland

Rav Besdansky, a member of the Agudath Harabonim rabbinated at  Congregation Chevra Tehillim in East New York.

Rav, New York City d. 22 Kislev, 1986 (5747) Anyone with information is asked to please send it in. See CONTACT page for details. Directions to kever: Mount Lebanon Cemetery 7800 Myrtle Avenue Glendale, NY 11385 Location: Block: A, Section: 2, Line: 9, Grave: 6, Society: Spinoza Click photo to enlarge , a new window […]

Photo Credit: Rabbi Kalman Chaim Mathews, Credit: MCA

Photo Caption: Delegation of rabbonim to Washington, 1925, Credit: Montana Historical Society

Credit: Moreshes Chachmei America’s Archives

Bio information:
Rav Menachem Yehuda Guzik, the Makover Rav was a descendant of the Plotzker Gaon, Rav Aryeh Leib Tzintz, he served as the Chief Rabbi Poughkeepsie and later in the Henry Street Shul on the Lower East Side. In 1925, Rav Guzik was among the delegation of rabbonim which included Rav Avroham Aaron Yudelovitch and Rav Gavriel Zev Margolis to visit President Calvin Coolidge in Washington, DC.

Credit: Yeshiva University 

Rav, Yeshivas Rabanu HaGaon Eliyahu MiVilna d. 22 Kislev, 1929 (5690) Anyone with biographical information is asked to please send it in. See CONTACT page for details. Directions to kever: Mount Lebanon Cemetery 7800 Myrtle Avenue Glendale, NY 11385 Location: Block: R, Section: 27, corner of Central and Cypress Avenue in the far left corner […]

Photo Caption: Rav Shlomo Dov Shapiro

In Memorial:
Rebbe Pinchas of Koretz (d. 1791)



Photo Caption: Ohel of Rebbe Pinchas of Koretz, Shepetivka, Ukraine. It is also noted that his son, Rebbe Yehuda Meir (d. 29 Nissan, 5589 – May 2, 1829) was buried in the nearby cemetery, Credit: IFJCAH

Bio Information:
Between East Flatbush and later in Kew Gardens Hills, The Rav, a direct descendant of Rebbe Pinchas of Koretz (d. 1790) served for close to 70 years in New York.

Although a Rav in Minsk, Russia on these shores Rav Rubin worked as a shochet (kosher ritual slaughterer). He was born c. 1856, and arrived here in 1923.

Photo Caption: Rabbi Solomon Rubin, Credit: Richard Rubin

Photo Caption: Rabbi Solomon Rubin, in a kosher butcher shop in Stamford, CT c.1925, Credit: Richard Rubin

Photo Caption: Rabbi Shmuel Chaim Yehuda Romanov, Credit: Needed

Credit: THE JEWISH COMMUNAL REGISTER

Credit: MCA

Bio Information:
Rav Tikin who originally came from Jerusalem lived in the Bronx.  Among his known locations were 763 Beck Street and 800 Fox Street, both are located in the Bronx.

Photo Credit: Rabbi Yaakov Eskolsky, Credit: Michael Escott

Photo Caption: Chag HaSmicha,  Kovno Kollel, c.1900, Credit: Michael Escott

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3. Rabbi Yaakov Eskolsky

The Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada, often called by its Hebrew name, Agudath Harabonim or Agudas Harrabonim, was established in 1901 in the United States and is the oldest organization of Orthodox rabbis in the United States. It had been for many years the principal group for such rabbis, though in recent years it has lost much if not all of its former membership and influence.

Moreh Dasrah, Chevra Bnai Yaakov (Chechanowza) d. 26 Iyar, 1930 (5690) Anyone with information is asked to please send it in. See CONTACT page for details. Directions to kever: Mount Lebanon Cemetery 7800 Myrtle Avenue Glendale, NY 11385 Location: Block: Park Block, Section: 32, along Bethel Avenue right side near the rare fence Photo Credit: […]

Photo Caption: Rabbi Yitzchok Leib Kadushin, Credit: Needed


Credit: Institute For Judaic Culture and History (IFJCAH)

Bio Information:
To avoid conscription into the Russian Army, Isaac Louis Schnitman was “adopted” by the Kadushin family, who had lost a son named Jacob Kadushin. Isaac changed his name to Jacob Kadushin, while his siblings retained the name Schnitman. Jacob arrived in Castle Garden Immigration Center (Castle Clinton National Monument)  New York City in 1883, and was followed by his wife and children three years later. While in New York, Rabbi Kadushin translated the entire Shulchan Aruch into English and published it in 1915 as the “Jewish Code of Jurisprudence.” It went through at least 2 editions.
Source: Needed

Photo Caption: Rav Yitzchok Sodden, Credit: AF

Source: The Jewish Morning Journal, March 6, 1919

Photo Caption: Rav Yitzchok Sodden at a Knesseth HaRabonim meeting, Source: Brooklyn Eagle, 1932

Photo Caption: The Rav’s stamp, Credit: IFJCAH

Bio Information:
The Rav who authored a number of seforim (books) rabbinated for a number of years in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Photo Caption: Rebbe Menachem Mendel Landau, Biala Rebbe, Credit: Moreshes Chachmei America’s Archives

Photo Caption: Letterhead of Rebbe Menachem Mendel Landau, Biala Rebbe, Credit: Moreshes Chachmei America’s Archives

Bio Information:
The Rebbe, a direct descendant of Rebbe Berish of Biala authored  Shemesh Umugain on Torah. The book was published posthumously by his son, the late Biala Rebbe of Tell Aviv, Israel.