Shlomo Harkavy (c. 1890 – c. 1942), also known as Rav Shlomo Grodner, was an

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 ...

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 ...

Grodno Grodno, or Hrodna, is a city in western Belarus. It is one of the oldest cities in Belarus. The city is located on the Neman, Neman River, from Minsk, about from the Belarus–Poland border, border with Poland, and from the Belarus–Lithua ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. He served as

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 ...

of the

Grodno Yeshiva Yeshiva Shaar HaTorah – Grodna, often referred to as the Grodna Yeshiva or simply as Grodna, was an Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Jewish yeshiva in the Belarusian city of Grodno, then under Russian Empire, Russian rule. Founded during World W ...

under

Shimon Shkop Shimon Yehuda Shkop (; 1860 – October 22, 1939) was Rosh Yeshiva (dean) of the Yeshiva of Telshe, and later of Yeshiva Shaar HaTorah of Grodno. Having innovated a style of Torah study, applying both to Halacha and to Talmud, he was widely r ...

, until he was murdered

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

Biography

Early life

Shlomo Harkavy was born c. 1890 in

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

(present-day

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

). He studied at the

Radin Yeshiva The Radin Yeshiva, originally located in Radun, Belarus, Radun, Vilna Governorate, Russian Empire (now in Belarus), was established by Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan (known as the ''Chofetz Chaim'' after the title of his well-known ''Sefer (Hebrew), sefe ...

, where

Yeruchom Levovitz Rav Yeruchom Levovitz (; – 1936), also known by his hundreds of students simply as The Mashgiach, was a famous mashgiach ruchani and baal mussar (Jewish Ethics) at the Mir Yeshiva in Belarus. Early life R' Yeruchom Levovitz was born in 187 ...

served as ''

mashgiach A mashgiach (, "supervisor"; , ''mashgichim'') or mashgicha (pl. ''mashgichot'') is a Jew who supervises the kashrut status of a kosher establishment. Mashgichim may supervise any type of food service establishment, including slaughterhouses ...

,'' and in 1908, when Levovitz was appointed ''mashgiach'' of the Mir Yeshiva, a number of his students from Radin transferred to Mir with him, Harkavy included. He stayed in the Mir for several years before going to learn in the

Kelm Talmud Torah The Kelm Talmud Torah was a famous yeshiva in pre-holocaust Kelmė, Lithuania. Unlike other yeshivas, the Talmud Torah focused primarily on the study of Musar ("Jewish ethics") and self-improvement. Under the Leadership of Simcha Zissel Ziv The ...

. He later married Freida Baila Gringas of

Kremenchug Kremenchuk (; , , also spelt Kremenchug, ) is an industrial city in central Ukraine which stands on the banks of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. The city serves as the administrative center of Kremenchuk Raion and Kremenchuk urban hromada within ...

Rabbinic career

In the early 1920s, Harkavy was appointed ''

'' at Yeshiva Shaar HaTorah in Grodno, where

served as ''

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 ...

''. As part of his role as mashgiach ruchani, he was supposed to give his students ''mussar'' (rebuke) when they did something wrong. He did this in a unique way. As opposed to confronting a student and rebuking him for a specific act, he would instead discuss that type of wrongdoing with somebody else, in earshot of the student.

The Holocaust

At the outbreak of World War II and the Soviet takeover of Poland, many yeshivas fled to Vilna, the Grodno Yeshiva included. While the ''

'' Shkop was not up to journey, Harkavy joined his students and escaped to Vilna. After the Nazi invasion of Lithuania, the Jews of Vilna were rounded up into two

ghettos A ghetto is a part of a city in which members of a minority group are concentrated, especially as a result of political, social, legal, religious, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished than other ...

, where many Jews were killed or deported to

Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...

; both ghettos were later liquidated by the Nazis. Harkavy was murdered around that time. He was the last mashgiach of the Grodno Yeshiva in Europe.

References

{{authority control Haredi rabbis in Europe Mashgiach ruchani Belarusian Haredi rabbis 1942 murders in Europe Rabbis from Grodno Year of birth uncertain 20th-century Belarusian rabbis