Chaim Mordechai Katz (; ; April 9, 1894 – November 17, 1964) was an

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

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 the Rosh Yeshiva of the

Telshe Yeshiva Telshe Yeshiva (; ; also spelled ''Telz'') is a yeshiva in Wickliffe, Ohio, formerly located in Telšiai, Lithuania. During World War II the yeshiva relocated to Cleveland, Ohio in the United States and is now known as the Rabbinical College of ...

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

Prewar years

Katz was born in 1894 in Shadova, Russian Empire. As a young man, he studied in the yeshiva in Shadova, under the tutelage of the town's rabbi and Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi

Yosef Leib Bloch Rabbi Yosef Yehudah Leib Bloch (February 13, 1860 – November 10, 1929) was a prominent rabbi and ''rosh yeshiva'' in Telshe (Telšiai), Lithuania. Early life Bloch was born on February 13, 1860, in Raseiniai, Lithuania, then part of the Ru ...

. In 1910, he went to study in the Knesses Beis Yitzchak yeshiva in Slobodka for a year, following which, in 1911, he returned to study under Bloch, who had been appointed as

Chief Rabbi Chief Rabbi () is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities. Since 1911, through a capitulation by Ben-Zion Meir ...

and

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 ...

in Telz. In 1914, Katz went to the

Volozhin Yeshiva Yeshivas Etz Ḥayyim (), commonly called the Volozhin Yeshiva (), was a prestigious LItvak yeshiva located in the town of Volozhin in the Russian Empire (now Valozhyn, Belarus). It was founded around 1803 by Khayim Volozhiner, a student of the ...

for two years where he was ordained by Rabbi

Refael Shapiro Rabbi Refael Shapiro (1837–1921) was the famed Rosh Yeshiva of the Volozhin yeshiva located in the town of Volozhin, Russia, (now Valozhyn, Belarus), and a son-in-law of Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (the ''Netziv'').Yeshiva Eitz Chaim Vol ...

, the son-in-law of the

Netziv Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (20 November 1816 – 10 August 1893), also known as Reb Hirsch Leib Berlin, and commonly known by the acronym Netziv, was a Russian Orthodox rabbi, rosh yeshiva ( dean) of the Volozhin Yeshiva and author of several work ...

. In 1916 he studied under Rabbi Shlomo Polachek, the renowned "Maitziter Illuy". In 1918 he returned to Telz, where he married Perel Leah, Bloch's daughter. In 1920, Katz assisted his father in law in the founding of a preparatory school for young men (''Mechina''), which would prepare younger students for study in the yeshiva proper. Katz was appointed director of the ''Mechina''. In 1922, a postgraduate institute (

Kollel A kollel (also kolel) (, , , , a "gathering" or "collection" f scholars is an institute for full-time, advanced Torah study, study of the Talmud and rabbinic literature. Like a yeshiva, a kollel features Shiur (Torah), shiurim (lectures) and ...

) was founded in Telz and he was appointed Head of the institute. In 1930, Katz's father, wife, third oldest child (Shmuel, aged six) and father in law died. The following year he married Chaya Kravitz, Bloch's niece. In 1934, Katz was one of the founders of the Zeirei Agudath Israel in Lithuania and he served as the head of the Board of Action ''(Va'ad Hapoel)''. Together with his brother in law, Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Bloch, he also served as one of the editors of the Agudah newspaper in Lithuania: ''"Dos Yiddishe Lebben"''. He participated in the first Knessiah Gedolah of the Agudath Israel in 1923 and at the third Knessiah Gedolah in 1937 he was appointed a member of the International Action Committee ''(Va'ad Hapoel Ha'olami)''.

World War II and relocation to the USA

In 1940, Katz and

Eliyahu Meir Bloch Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Bloch (October 23, 1894 – January 22, 1955), often referred to as Rav Elya Meir Bloch, was a leading Orthodox Jewish rabbi in the United States in the years after World War II. He founded the Telshe Yeshiva in Cleveland, ...

managed to travel out of Soviet occupied Lithuania and make their way to the United States, in the hope of re-establishing the

Rabbinical College of Telshe Telshe Yeshiva (; ; also spelled ''Telz'') is a yeshiva in Wickliffe, Ohio, formerly located in Telšiai, Lithuania. During World War II the yeshiva relocated to Cleveland, Ohio in the United States and is now known as the Rabbinical College of ...

and bringing over its faculty and student body. Both Katz and Bloch were unable to bring their wives and children, the fate of whom remained unknown to them until 1944. In October 1942 Katz and Bloch re-established the

Telz Yeshiva Telshe Yeshiva (; ; also spelled ''Telz'') is a yeshiva in Wickliffe, Ohio, formerly located in Telšiai, Lithuania. During World War II the yeshiva relocated to Cleveland, Ohio in the United States and is now known as the Rabbinical College of ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. Together, in 1943 they established a Jewish day school: The

Hebrew Academy of Cleveland The Hebrew Academy of Cleveland is a private day school in Cleveland, Ohio with over 1,000 students. It provides Judaic and secular education from pre-school through high school. The Hebrew Academy was established in 1943 by the Telshe Yeshiva an ...

. Towards the end of the war Katz discovered that his wife and 10 children had been killed by Nazi forces in Telz in 1941. Bloch's family suffered a similar fate. In 1946 Katz married Esther Mindle Mandel. In 1947 Katz and Bloch established a Hebrew School for girls in

called Yavneh, under the framework of the

Telz Cleveland

In 1954 Bloch died and Katz became head of the yeshiva (

). Katz served as a member on the

Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah (, "Council of great Torah ages) is the supreme rabbinical policy-making council of the Agudat Yisrael and Degel HaTorah movements in Israel; and of Agudath Israel of America in the United States. Members are usually ...

of the Agudath Israel. In 1957 the

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 ...

moved from downtown

to its present-day location in

Wickliffe, Ohio Wickliffe is a city in western Lake County, Ohio, United States. The population was 12,652 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A suburb of Cleveland, it is part of the Greater Cleveland, Cleveland metropolitan area. History A post offi ...

, on the outskirts of

. In 1960 he established Telshe Chicago, a branch of the

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, Illinois. On Tuesday morning, January 1, 1963, a fire broke out in one of the three dormitories at the

. Two students died in the fire and local authorities closed the remaining two dormitories as a safety measure. On November 17, 1964 Katz died of a heart attack. He was buried on Har HaMenuchot. His son Rabbi Yaakov Zev Katz founded and leads the Cedar-Green Community Kollel in Beachwood Ohio, officially named Kollel Yad Chaim Mordechai after his father.

References

*Be'er Mechokek - Published by Rabbi Yaakov Z. Katz, Wickliffe, Ohio 1989. {{DEFAULTSORT:Katz, Chaim Mordechai 1894 births 1964 deaths Rosh yeshivas American Haredi rabbis Lithuanian emigrants to the United States Burials at Har HaMenuchot Lithuanian Haredi rabbis People from Šeduva Rabbis from Ohio Volozhin Yeshiva alumni