Rabbi Chaim Michael Dov Weissmandl
חים מיכאל דוב ב"ר יוסף
Rosh Yeshivah, Nitra, HungaryDate of Death:
Fri. November 29, 1957 -
Kislev 6 5718
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Directions to Kever: Beth Israel Cemetery, also, know as Woodbridge Memorial Gardens located along US Highway 1 in Woodbridge, New Jersey. Gate hours are officially 8:30 – 4:30 but will remain open until sunset (6:30 during the summer). In addition, Beth Israel maintains computerized records and will provide a detailed location map upon request. Location: along Montefiore Avenue in the Viener Chelka
Biographical Notes:
Photo Caption: Rav Shmuel Dovid Unger, Natra Rav, d. 8 Adar, 1945, Credit: IFJCAH
Bio Information:
Rav Weissmandl who was better known as Reb Michael Ber was born in Debrecen, Hungary in 1903. In 1931 he entered the Nitra Yeshiva where he was considered a prize student of Rav Shmuel Dovid Unger, whose daughter he later married.
The Rav became known for his efforts to save the Jews of Slovakia from extermination at the hands of the Nazis during the Holocaust. Largely by bribing diplomats, the Rav was able to smuggle letters or telegrams to people he hoped would help save the Jews of Europe, alerting them to the progressive Nazi destruction of European Jewry. It is known that he managed to send letters to Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Pope Pius XII. He also unsuccessfully begged the Allies to bomb the rails leading to Auschwitz.
The Rav arrived in the United States a broken man having lost his wife, five children, and community. Although the Rav remarried and had five children, he never forgot his family and community in Europe and was unable to overcome his grief.
In November 1946, the Rav and his brother-in-law, Rav Sholom Moshe Unger, re-established the Nitra Yeshiva in Somerville, NJ, gathering surviving students from the original Nitra Yeshiva. A year later, with the help of Rav Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz, a large estate in Mount Kisco, NY was purchased and the Yeshiva relocated. On its new campus, a self-sustaining agricultural community known as the “Yeshiva Farm Settlement” was established.
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Very nice.
I think it would be appropriate to also post the backside of the Matsievah.
What does it say on the other side?
His kever is in the plot of kahal adas yereim of Williamsburg (also known at the time as the viener shul). I believe it is right alongside the kever of yonasan steif in the front row. R. Steif, a former dayan of Budapest was rav of the Adas Yereim from after the war until his petirah (I believe in 1958).
We need to add Nitra as a tag on this.
http://www.oxfordchabad.org/templates/articlecco_cdo/aid/1378317/jewish/A-Rabbi-from-the-Bodleian-Library-who-saved-Jews-from-the-Holocaust.htm
where in the beis olam is this kever? is it easy to find?
When entering the cemetery from Woodbridge Commons Rd, you keep left to Montefiore Ave. He is buried in the front row.
Does the cemetery of R Michoel Ber Weissmandel and r Yonason Shteif really close 4:30? Highway 1, woodbridge, NJ
the cemetery has no gates so you can visit 24 hours
Google maps dose not have any of the streets of the cemetery (as of 11/2017) so this is the exact coordinates address 40.548093, -74.307037.
Just make sure before you travel to look if the above address gave you the good destination.
Thanks for providing the exact coordinates, we appreciate it.
Added to Google Maps:
https://goo.gl/maps/GcFdgdBHnwj
“the cemetery has no gates” – true “so you can visit 24 hours” – not so; there is a security patrol truck that travels around all the roads in the beis ha-chayim with a huge revolving spotlight. when they spot you there past nightfall they will order you to leave over their loudspeaker from the truck.
Does anyone know where the yeshiva was located in Somerville, NJ? before they moved to mt kisco
Gadol Godel!
My husband’s father, Aaron Meir Aber, was called to Nitra to put in the Mikvah when it opened in Mt. Kisco.
My late husband, Shneur Zalman Aber, spoke all the time about him and how much he cried and how broken he was to have been unable to save the Jews of Europe. He learned in Nitra when his family moved there for a brief time.
Brilliant in Torah and everything, he did not live too long and passed away rather young,
A”H.