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Photo Caption: Letter written by the 6th Lubavitcher Rebbe (Rayatz), addressed to Rav Warhaftig, Credit: N/N

Source: Moreshes Chachmei America (MCA)

Source: Hapardes

Photo Caption: Rav Mordechai Jholin (Yolin), Credit: Moreshes Chachmei America’s Archives
Bio Information:
Kehilas Mordecai

Prior to Philadelphia the Rav served near Kiev, Ukraine .

Photo Caption: Rav Yaacov Tzvi Erusalimsky, Credit: Moreshes Chachmei America’s Archives

Photo Caption: The Rav’s uncle, Rav Moshe Nachum Erusalimsky, Cheif Rabbi, Kielce, Poland, d. 1914, Credit: Moreshes Chachmei America’s Archives

Photo Caption: Registration card, Credit: Moreshes Chachmei America’s Archives

Photo Caption: Letter by Rav Nachum Olinsky, Credit: Moreshes Chachmei America’s Archives

Myer Derkheim performed his first Brit Milah (Jewish ritual circumcision) in Portsmouth, New Hampshire when he was only 26 years old. The final circumcision at which he presided as mohel took place in 1818, the year of his death. During the 44 intervening years, Derkheim traveled the length of the newly created United States and new country in which he had settled, and he officiated at the sacred rite of initiation into the Jewish faith another 75 times; each he recorded faithfully, on these pages. His peregrinations to perform the sacred task took him from Maine to South Carolina, visiting both established Jewish communities and small outposts of Jewish life in rural America. Although Jewish tradition calls for the circumcision to be performed on the eighth day after birth, a close examination of the dates of circumcision in this register reveals that, in practice, many of the circumcisions performed by Derkheim, took place much later. The high neonatal mortality rate that prevailed in the eighteenth century meant that some circumcisions were delayed for health reasons. Derkheim’s own son Moses, whose birth and circumcision are both recorded in this register, did not undergo circumcision until he was 11 months old. The dearth of practitioners of the ancient rite and the great distances between Jewish communities meant that circumcisers rarely found their way into the hinterland and some youngsters had to wait years before the mohel came. Jacob Rader Marcus, the doyen of American Jewish history, explicitly referenced the importance of Meyer Derkheim’s circumcision register as a testament to the fidelity to their faith, exhibited by the Jews of even the most distant American towns and villages. In addition to his career as an itinerant mohel, Derkheim was one of the founders of the Jewish cemetery in Charleston S.C. in Richmond & Petersburg, VA as well as in Philadelphia.

Photo Caption: Rabbi Yechezkel Yehoshua Ovsovitz, Credit: Daniel Adler
Note: Apparently Rav Ovsovitz did not like his picture taken.  The story is that the kids made noise to
draw him outside…you can see he is kind of smirking in the picture.

The Rav also served in Fall River, Massachusetts and Denver, Colorado and passed away en-rout to the land of Israel

Photo Caption: Rabbi Avroham Yitzchok Ovsovitz, Credit: Daniel Adler

Credit: Daniel Adler

Photo Caption: Rav Pressman who was originally from Vilna passed away in Philadelphia, Credit: Rabbi Binyomin Yudin, Mason, OH

Photo Caption: Rav Eliezer Pupko, Credit: Needed

Photo Caption: Rav Eliezer Pupko, Credit: Moreshes Chachmei America (MCA)

Photo Caption:  Rav Eliezer Pupko (R) along with Rav Meir Sharf of Brooklyn (L), outside  The White House, c. 1945, Credit: Life Photo Collection

Photo Caption: Rabbi Dovid Wachtfogel, Credit Florence Lipschutz

Photo Caption: Kosher for Passover product under Rav Wachtfogel’s supervision, Credit: IFJCAH

Photo Caption: Rev Shabtai Sabato Morias, Credit: English Hebraica

Bio Information:
Hazan of Mikveh Israel 1851-1897: noted for his anti-slavery sermons. Involved in the education of children and adults, he worked for the Hebrew Sunday School Society, the Hebrew Education Society and the Young Men’s Hebrew Association (YMHA). A founder and first president of the Jewish Theological Seminary and professor of Bible there. He worked in behalf of Russian immigrants, settling disagreements between workers and employers.
Adapted: from the Congregation Mikveh Israel website.

Rav Kleinberg was born in the town of Bavisk, Lithuania and was the son-in-law of Rav Yisrael Lipchitz, the Chief Judge of the Vilna Bias Din. Soon after his father-in-laws passing the Rav was appointed as his replacement. He was then known as Rav Eliezer Dayan.
In 1890, Chief Rabbi Yaakov Yosef Joseph on New York City invited Rav Kleinberg to assume the pulpit at Congregation Bnai Abraham of Philadelphia. Soon after his funereal his son-in-law Rav Dov Aryeh Levinthal was installed has his successor.

American ḥazzan; believed to have been born in the Barbary States; died in Philadelphia, Pa., Sept. 1811. Cohen lived in London, England, during the earlier years of his life. He is known to have been in Quebec, and also in New Orleans, in 1777. He was the minister of the Spanish and Portuguese synagogue, Shearith Israel, of Montreal, Canada, from 1778 to 1782. In the latter year, Cohen was elected minister of the Sephardic synagogue of New York. He lived there until 1784, when he accepted the appointment of ḥazzan of the Spanish and Portuguese congregation of Philadelphia, Pa.
Cohen married Rebekah Luria, of a family which had lost more than one of its members through the Spanish Inquisition. He left descendants in Philadelphia. After Cohen’s death his son, Abraham Hyman Cohen, acted as reader for a time.
Source: Jewish Encyclopedia

Note: Prior to the 1900’s, the Chazan or Minister of a congregation was the central rabbinic figure. Wedding sermonizes, divorces, circumcision, est. were all the function of the Chazan.

Rav, Bais Medrash HaGadol Anshei Romania d. 14 Kislev, 1938 (5699) Anyone with information is asked to send it in. See CONTACT page for details. Directions to kever: Mount Sharon Cemetery 502 E Springfield Road Springfield, PA 19064 (Just outside of Philadelphia.) (610) 543-8900 Photo Credit: David Weider of Williamsburg

Photo Caption: Rabbi Bernard Leventhal, Credit: Needed

Credit: Yeshiva University

Photo Date: 1928, Source: Needed 

The Rav moved to Philadelphia in 1905 from Kyiv, Ukraine.