Boruch Greenfeld (; 1872–1956), was a

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

and

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

scholar.

Biography

Born in Humenne,

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

(then

Zemplén County Zemplén (, , , ) was an administrative county (Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary), comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. The northern part of its territory is now situated in eastern Slovakia (Zemplín (region), Zemplín region), while a smaller so ...

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

), Greenfield studied in

Kisvárda Kisvárda (; , ) is a town in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County, in the Northern Great Plain region of eastern Hungary near the border of Slovakia and Ukraine. It is the 3rd largest town in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg after Nyíregyháza and Mátészalka ...

under

Moshe Greenwald Moshe Greenwald (1853–1910), also spelled Grunwald, a rabbi in Hungary at the end of the 19th century. He was the rabbi of Khust, Chust, Hungary and progenitor of the Pupa (Hasidic dynasty), Pupa Hasidic dynasty through his son Yaakov Yechezkiy ...

. In 1891 he married Rivkah, the daughter of Shlomo Yosef Weinberger, in

Stropkov Stropkov (; , , , ) is a town in Stropkov District, Prešov Region, Slovakia. History The first written data about the town is from 1404, when Stropkov was already labeled as an ''oppidum'' (a townlet). The first owner of the town after the king ...

where he founded a small

yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel. The stu ...

. Later he became the dayan (rabbinic judge) of Shebesh, Potneck, and Hermenshtat. Greenfeld was instrumental in the creation of the separatist

Anti-Zionist Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the Palestine (region) ...

community in Klausenberg in the 1920s. Due to the laws governing the creation of communities at the time, the community was registered as

Sephardic Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

, even though its members were

Hasidic Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those aff ...

. In 1923 he immigrated to the United States where he was a rabbi in several Pennsylvania cities and then in New York City, first in

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

and then the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

. In 1935 he moved to

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

Ohel Boruch pp. 5
/ref> and was affiliated with the

Edah HaChareidis The Charedi Community of Jerusalem (, ''haEdah haCharedit'', Ashkenazi pronunciation: ''ho-Aideh HaCharaidis'' or ''ho-Eido ha-Chareidis''; "Community of God-Fearers") is a large Haredi Jewish communal organization based in Jerusalem. It has s ...

. In 1976 his family published his writings under the title Ohel Boruch.

Family

Greenfeld married Rivkah Weinberger in 1891 and had five children that reached adulthood, Miriam, Ruchel, Eidel, Mirel, and Sarah. Miriam married Nusen Baumhaft, the

Rosh Yeshiva Rosh yeshiva or Rosh Hayeshiva (, plural, pl. , '; Anglicized pl. ''rosh yeshivas'') is the title given to the dean of a yeshiva, a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and th ...

of Klausenberg. The two of them, together with fourteen of their fifteen children, perished in the Holocaust. Ruchel married Ahron Klausner, a Torah scholar, with whom she had two children. Eidel, married to Shimon Fischman, remained childless. Mirel, married to Chaim Pall, died during childbirth and was also left childless. The fifth child, Sarah, married Dovid Yaakov Friedman and they had six daughters.

Sources

# ''Ohel Boruch'' # ''Moshian Shel Yisroel'', by Shloima Yankel Gelbman # # # ''Lkoros Hayhadus BTranselvany'' by Tzvi Yaakov Abraham pub. 1951

External links

Ivelt ר' ברוך גרינפעלד מהערמענשטאט ז"ל - י"א אייר תשט"ז

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenfeld, Boruch 1872 births 1956 deaths Hungarian Hasidic rabbis American Hasidic rabbis Hasidic rabbis in Mandatory Palestine Hasidic rabbis in Israel Hazzans Rabbinic judges Edah HaChareidis people Anti-Zionist Hasidic rabbis Hungarian anti-Zionists Anti-Zionists from Mandatory Palestine