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   Yitzchok Shteierman on March 30, 2022 at 4:34 pm

   Rav Chaim Labovitz
   A Mechutan of the Kovno Rov in Boro Park of Yesteryear
   Agudas Harabonim/Union of Orthodox Rabbis—the preeminent unifying organization of
   American orthodox Rabbonim in the last century, and major force in strengthening yiddishkeit in
   America as it struggled to take hold—was founded in 1903, following the petirah of Rav Yaakov
   Joseph, the Chief Rabbi of New York, a terrible chapter in Jewish American history.
   In the 25th anniversary sefer hayovel—in 1928—the early history, and many of the
   accomplishments of organization, are featured. It also holds a directory of the rabbonim who
   were associated with the organization—where we find the following entry; Rabbi Chaim
   Labovitz, 5117 11th Avenue.
   After some investigating, we find that Rav Labovitz was a Ga’on and prominent rov in Boro
   Park during the 1920’s.
   ‘Chaim of Kurshan’
   Chaim was born in 1875 in Šiauliai (Shavel) a legendary shtetl located about 50km east of
   Telshe, Not much is known about his childhood, but as we read later, he was a metzuyan in Telse
   and Slabodka, and stood out for his lamdanus. There was known as Chaim from Kuršėnai,
   (pronounced Kurshan), as people would often be associated in the town from which they hailed.
   In later years in America he would head the Telsher alumni association, which was tasked with
   strengthening the yeshiva, through the many alumni who found themselves in America by that
   time.
   He married Devorah Bloch of Plungyan. She was the sister of Rav Chaim Yitzchok Bloch, later
   one of the great Rabbanim in America and president of Agudas Harabanim. The family arrived
   in America in 1925, and disembarked in Boston, where his eldest daughter had landed. This is
   where they applied for citizenship. He soon settled in Boro Park, where find him in 1928.
   The Kovno Rav’s Mechutan
   In the year 1930, Rav Chaim’s daughter Henna married Leib Shapiro. He was the son of the
   Kovno Rav, Rav Avraham Duber Kahana Shapiro. We read in one of the Torah publications:
   “The great Ga’on, the Av Beis Din of Kovno arrived to New York for the occasion of the
   marriage of his son, Leib Shapiro, to the Henna, the daughter of Rav Chaim Labovitz, a Rav in
   Boro Park. The Ga’on from Kovno is famed for his seforim Dvar Avrohom, which are filled with
   charifus and sevaros.
   In a letter to his uncle, Rav Chaim Bloch, Leon (Leib) Shapiro later wrote some biographical
   notes about his father and his maternal grandfather, Rav Yeruchom Yehuda Leib Perelman,
   known as the ‘Minsker Gadol.’
   While we could not locate his writings, we do find an extensive haskamah to a sefer on the
   halachos of shechita, which was published in Brooklyn in 1930.
   Untimely Passing
   Rav Labovitz passed away after an extended illness on Thursday evening, 2 Tammuz, 1938. At
   that time he had moved out of Boro Park and was serving as the Rav of Congregation Tiferes
   Chaim, on Troy Avenue in Crown Heights (photo featured here).
   On the following Sunday, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle ran the following obituary: Rabbi Labovitz,
   63, Temple Head. Services are conducted in two synagogues for the Tefereth Chaim leader.
   “Funeral services were held Friday for Rabbi Chaim Labovitz, 63, of 315 Troy Avenue, Rabbi of
   Congregation Tefereth Chaim, who died Thursday night at the Hotel Ocean Crest in Arverne
   (this was in Far Rockaway, where many New York Jews spent the summer on the water) where
   he was spending the summer. Services were conducted both at his own synagogue on Troy
   Avenue, and that of the Congregation Chovevei Torah on Eastern Parkway.
   “Rabbi Labovitz was the brother in law of Rabbi C.H. Bloch, honorary president of the Union of
   Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada. He was a member of that organization and of
   the Rabbinical Board of Greater New York, and treasurer of the alumni association of the
   Yeshiva College of Telz. He as the author of books and articles for periodicals here and in
   Palestine.
   “One of his daughters is Mrs. Henrietta Shapiro, who is the daughter-in-law of Rabbi Shapiro,
   Chief Rabbi of Lithuania and one of the world’s most outstanding Rabbis. Also surviving are his
   widow Mrs. Dora Labovitz; two sons, Charles Labovitz of Boston, and David L. Lieb, a C.P.A.
   and two other daughters Eva, a teacher and Frances, a secretary.
   Hamesilah—the publication of Agudas Haraboni— wrote in tribute: “The niftar stood out with
   his ge’onus and his talents, and during his time learning in the Slabodka Yeshiva he became
   known as an exceptional lamdan, and was known as ‘Chaim of Kurshan.’”
   “About fourteen years ago, he came to America and served as a Rav in various communities. He
   dedicated himself with all of his warm heart, and with enormous passion, toward great work in
   all areas of yiddishkeit. He was the mechutan of the great Ga’on, pe’er hador, Maran Rav
   Avraham Duber Kahana-Shapiro—Rav of Kovno, Lita—and the brother in law of Rav Chaim
   Yitzchok Bloch, Rav in Jersey City.
   “The Vaad Harabanim expresses its great sorrow upon the passing of one of its distinguished
   members who left this world in the prime of his life, at only 63 years old.”
   Rav Labovitz was interred in the Chovevei Torah section of Beth David Cemetery-following a
   a lifetime of Torah scholarship, a decade of them in Boro Park of yesteryear.