Abba Avraham Shmuel Twersky (1872–1947), known as Shmuel Abba Twersky, was a

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. ...

of the Makarover

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 ...

dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchy, monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. H ...

. He succeeded his father as Makarover Rebbe of

Berdichev Berdychiv (, ) is a historic city in Zhytomyr Oblast, northern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Berdychiv Raion within the oblast. It is south of the administrative center of the oblast, Zhytomyr. Its population is approximat ...

, Ukraine, in 1920, and presided as Makarover Rebbe of

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, Manitoba, Canada, from 1927 to 1947.

Early life and family

Shmuel Abba Twersky was born to Grand Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Twersky (1844–1920), a direct descendant of the

Chernobyl Chernobyl, officially called Chornobyl, is a partially abandoned city in Vyshhorod Raion, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. It is located within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, to the north of Kyiv and to the southwest of Gomel in neighbouring Belarus. ...

Hasidic dynasty, who was the Makarover Rebbe of

and

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. His mother Chavah was a daughter of

Yehoshua Rokeach Rabbi Yehoshua Rokeach (1825 – February 3, 1894), known as the ''Mitteler Ruv'', was the second Rebbe of the Belz Hasidic dynasty. He combined Torah scholarship with practical common sense to guide thousands of Hasidim and to fight the Haska ...

, the second Belzer Rebbe. Shmuel Abba married his first cousin, Rickel Twersky, the daughter of his father's brother, David Twersky of Kiev. They had one son and one daughter. As a young married man, he was known for his proficiency in

Torah study Torah study is the study of the Torah, Hebrew Bible, Talmud, responsa, rabbinic literature, and similar works, all of which are Judaism's Sifrei kodesh, religious texts. According to Rabbinic Judaism, the study is done for the purpose of the ''mi ...

. Upon his father's death in 1920, he and his brother Tzvi Aryeh ( 1938) became Makarover Rebbes in Berdichev. Later he briefly moved his court to Mezerich. In the wake of

pogrom A pogrom is a violent riot incited with the aim of Massacre, massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe late 19th- and early 20th-century Anti-Jewis ...

s during the 1917–1921

Ukrainian War of Independence The Ukrainian War of Independence, also referred to as the Ukrainian–Soviet War in Ukraine, lasted from March 1917 to November 1921 and was part of the wider Russian Civil War. It saw the establishment and development of an independent Ukr ...

, he and his family fled to

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

, Latvia.

Canada

The Makarover Hasidic community in

, Manitoba, Canada, included numerous members who had immigrated there due to the Ukrainian pogroms. They invited Twersky to be their leader. Twersky's move was stalled by two years of bureaucratic

red tape Red tape is a concept employed to denounce excessive or redundant regulation and adherence to formal rules for creating unnecessary constraints on action and decision-making. The occurrence of red tape is usually associated with governments but a ...

. Finally he was cleared for immigration and departed by ship from

Cherbourg Cherbourg is a former Communes of France, commune and Subprefectures in France, subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French departments of France, department of Manche. It was merged into the com ...

, France, in December 1927. According to an article in the local Yiddish newspaper, he was greeted at the Winnipeg train station by "several hundred Hasidim". His community bought him a house on Flora Avenue, where a large number of Jewish immigrants resided. Later he moved to Boyd Avenue, where he opened a

beth midrash A ''beth midrash'' (, "house of learning"; : ''batei midrash''), also ''beis medrash'' or ''beit midrash'', is a hall dedicated for Torah study, often translated as a "study hall". It is distinct from a synagogue (''beth knesseth''), althoug ...

in his house. Twersky was a prominent leader of the Winnipeg Jewish community. However, he distanced himself from community discord and in-fighting. On June 12, 2022, a group of Belz Hasidim organized an overnight stay in

with the help of Rabbi Tzvi Altein of the Winnipeg

Chabad Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (; ; ), is a dynasty in Hasidic Judaism. Belonging to the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) branch of Orthodox Judaism, it is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, as well as one of ...

in order to pray for the Holy Spirit of the Tzadik Twersky after many decades that people have not been to his holy grave and to say kadish for the Rabbi in form of a minyan.

Personal life

Twersky's wife and two children joined him over two years after his arrival in Winnipeg. His wife died suddenly in February 1930 at the age of 54. Twersky's son Yitzchak Yaakov became principal of a

Talmud Torah Talmud Torah (, lit. 'Study of the Torah') schools were created in the Jewish world, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, as a form of religious school for boys of modest backgrounds, where they were given an elementary education in Hebrew language, H ...

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...

; Twersky also had a daughter, Tzipporah. Twersky died on 2 June 1947 (14

Sivan ''Sivan'' (, from Akkadian ''simānu'', meaning "season; time") is the ninth month of the civil year and the third month of the religious year on the Hebrew calendar. It is a month of 30 days. ''Sivan'' usually falls in May–June on the Grego ...

5707). He was buried in an ohel in the Shaarey Zedek Cemetery in Winnipeg beside his wife. Many people came to pray at his ohel in the years after his death.

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References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Twersky, Shmuel Abba 1872 births 1947 deaths Hasidic rebbes Canadian Orthodox rabbis Canadian people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent People from Berdychiv Ukrainian emigrants to Canada 20th-century Canadian rabbis 20th-century Ukrainian rabbis