Matisyahu Chaim Salomon (November 28, 1937 – January 2, 2024) was an English-born American

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 ...

, author and public speaker. He served as the ''

mashgiach ruchani A mashgiach ruchani (; pl., ''mashgichim ruchani'im''), sometimes mashgiach for short, is a spiritual supervisor or guide. They are usually a rabbi who has an official position within a yeshiva and is responsible for the non-academic areas of yesh ...

'' (spiritual supervisor) of Beth Medrash Govoha, one of the world's largest

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 ...

s, located in Lakewood, New Jersey, United States. An opponent of unrestrained internet access in the

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as literally revealed by God on Mount Sinai and faithfully tra ...

community, he spearheaded a campaign to have internet filters installed on all computers and smartphones.

Early life and education

Matisyahu Chaim Salomon was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England to Yaakov and Ettel. After receiving his primary education in London, he moved with his family to

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

in the early 1940s, where he studied in a

and '' kollel''. His study partner for 16 years was Chaim Kaufman, who went on to found the Gateshead Yeshiva L'Zeirim.(January 2, 2024
"BD'E — Harav Matisyahu Salomon, Zt"l, Mashgiach of Bais Medrash Govoha of Lakewood"
, ''

Hamodia ''Hamodia'' ( – "''the Informer''") is a Jewish daily newspaper, published in Hebrew language, Hebrew-language in Jerusalem and English language, English-language in the United States, as well as weekly English-language editions in England and I ...

''. Retrieved January 7, 2024. Salomon studied under Elyah Lopian, the former

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 Etz Chaim Yeshiva for less than a year. He considered Lopian to be his main

rebbe A Rebbe () or Admor () is the spiritual leader in the Hasidic movement, and the personalities of its dynasties.Heilman, Samuel"The Rebbe and the Resurgence of Orthodox Judaism."''Religion and Spirituality (Audio)''. UCTV, 20 Oct 2011. web. ...

(mentor). Lopian, who had studied under Simcha Zissel Ziv, sparked in Salomon a life-long interest in following the Kelm Talmud Torah '' mussar'' school of philosophy.

Career

Salomon started out as assistant ''

'' (spiritual supervisor) in the Gateshead Yeshiva, working under . He later took over as the senior ''mashgiach'' at Gateshead, a position Salomon would hold for almost 30 years.Newman, David (May 28, 2012
"Borderline Views: The Internet and the Haredi Community"
''

The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is an English language, English-language Israeli broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1932 during the Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate of Mandatory Palestine, Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''Th ...

''. Retrieved January 4, 2024. In the fall of 1997, he was invited by Nosson Meir Wachtfogel to come to the United States in order to assume the position of ''mashgiach ruchani'' of Beth Medrash Govoha, one of the world's largest yeshivas located in Lakewood, New Jersey. Salomon was succeeded at Gateshead by Mordechai Yosef Karnowsky. Around this time, Salomon began to take a leadership position in the Vaad L'Hatzolas Nidchei Yisroel, an advocacy organization seeing to the spiritual needs of Jews in Russia,

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

and

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

. Salomon was a lecturer on topics relating to Jewish religious growth and communal issues in the yeshiva world. On May 3, 2009, Salomon comforted the mourners of a 9-year-old boy who was struck and killed by an errant

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

, reminding them that the boy had already achieved the

afterlife The afterlife or life after death is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's Stream of consciousness (psychology), stream of consciousness or Personal identity, identity continues to exist after the death of their ...

, and we "are not here for this world". One week later, Salomon gave the keynote address at the 46th annual Agudath Israel of America National Siyum Mishnayos, which honored students' achievements in the study of

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is ...

. On September 15, 2009, he was one of the main speakers at a ( inauguration of a Torah scroll) ceremony in Lakewood which was attended by over 6,000 people. While Salomon preferred that cases pertaining to sexual abuse in the Orthodox community be handled by a beth din (rabbinical court) rather than the secular justice system—in order to "protect human dignity" and because "we are guided by the

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 () ...

"—he closed down the beth din in 2009 due to pressure from child advocates, victims' relatives and mental health professionals. Salomon was not opposed to

whistleblowing Whistleblowing (also whistle-blowing or whistle blowing) is the activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe, unethical or ...

blogs focused on the Orthodox community, so long as the

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

gers avoided the use of profanity and sarcasm. But he was opposed to unfettered internet access, due to the perceived risk of harm to the

mores Mores (, sometimes ; , plural form of singular , meaning "manner, custom, usage, or habit") are social norms that are widely observed within a particular society or culture. Mores determine what is considered morally acceptable or unacceptable ...

of the

community. Instead, he advocated for the installation of internet filters on all computers and smartphones. In May 2012 he organized, together with the Skulener Rebbe, a mass gathering of over 60,000 people at both

Citi Field Citi Field is a baseball park, baseball stadium located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, in the Boroughs of New York, borough of Queens, New York City, United States. Opened in 2009, Citi Field is the home of Major League Baseball's New York M ...

and the adjacent Arthur Ashe Stadium in

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

, New York in order to bring attention to the dangers of using the internet. For similar reasons, Salomon discouraged the adoption of

kosher (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, ), from the Ashke ...

versions of forbidden foods such as

cheeseburger A cheeseburger is a hamburger with one or more slices of melted cheese on top of the meat patty, added near the end of the cooking time. Cheeseburgers can include variations in structure, ingredients and composition. As with other hamburgers, ...

s, pork and

shellfish Shellfish, in colloquial and fisheries usage, are exoskeleton-bearing Aquatic animal, aquatic invertebrates used as Human food, food, including various species of Mollusca, molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish ...

. In 2015 he signed a letter, along with Shmuel Kamenetsky and Malkiel Kotler, imploring school principals to admit unvaccinated children into the classroom.

Personal life and death

Salomon was married to Miriam, a descendant of Jacob Joshua Falk,Wincorn, Mordechai (December 5, 2016
A Tribute to Rebbetzin Miriam Salmon, a'h"
''Hamodia''. Retrieved January 4, 2024. from 1960 until her death in 2016. He died in Lakewood on January 2, 2024, at age 86, and was buried in Jerusalem's Har HaMenuchot cemetery.

Works

A number of books have been published in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

based on Salomon's public (''mussar'' discourses) and '' shiurim'' (lectures) under the title ''Matnas Chaim'': * * *Teitelbaum, Elise (April 28, 2022
"Converging Paths"
, ''The Voice of Lakewood''. Retrieved January 7, 2024. * * * * The '' Jewish Observer'' published an interview with Salomon on the Jewish approach to marriage.''Rabbi Matisyahu Salomon on Marriage''
, '' Jewish Observer''

References

External links

"Audio: Rav Mattisyahu Salomon Shmues About Girls Going to College"
''The Lakewood View''
"Rabbi Matisyahu Salomon"
(lectures) TorahAnytime.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Salomon, Matisyohu 1937 births 2024 deaths 20th-century English rabbis 21st-century American rabbis American Haredi rabbis Beth Medrash Govoha English emigrants to the United States English Orthodox rabbis Haredi rabbis in Europe Mashgiach ruchani Rabbis from New Jersey