Sholom Noach Berezovsky (; August 18, 1911 – August 8, 2000) was the

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. ...

(hereditary

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 ...

nic leader) of the

Slonim Slonim is a town in Grodno Region, in western Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Slonim District. It is located at the junction of the Shchara and Isa (river), Isa rivers, southeast of Grodno. As of 2025, it has a population of ...

dynasty of

hasidim Ḥasīd (, "pious", "saintly", "godly man"; plural "Hasidim") is a Jewish honorific, frequently used as a term of exceptional respect in the Talmudic and early medieval periods. It denotes a person who is scrupulous in his observance of Jewish ...

from 1981 until his death. His teachings were published as a series of books entitled ''Nesivos Sholom''.

Early life

Berezovsky was born on August 18, 1911 (4 Av 5671 in the Hebrew calendar) in

Baranavichy Baranavichy or Baranovichi is a city in the Brest Region of western Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Baranavichy District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2025, it has a population of 170,817. ...

(today in

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 ...

), to Rabbi Moshe Avrohom Berezovsky and Tzvia Berezovsky. His father was the head of the local Jewish community and his mother was a granddaughter of Hillel Weinberg, a brother of the first Slonimer rebbe Rabbi Avraham Weinberg. Berezovsky studied in the Slonimer

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 ...

Toras Chessed in Baranovitsh, which combined the Lithuanian Talmudic style of the non-Hasidic yeshivas with the Hasidic approach. Starting in about 1930, the Slonimer rebbe Avraham Weinberg had him write notes on the discourses which Weinberg delivered every

Shabbos Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical stories describing the cre ...

(sabbath). These notes were subsequently published under the name ''Beis Avrohom''. By 1933 he had moved to Israel and in that year married a daughter of Rabbi Avrohom Weinberg of

Tiberias Tiberias ( ; , ; ) is a city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Heb ...

(who would later become Slonimer Rebbe).

Rabbinic career

In 1940 he was appointed ''rosh yeshiva'' of ''Achei Temimim'', the Lubavitcher yeshiva in Tel Aviv. In 1941 he opened the Slonimer yeshiva in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

with five students. In 1954, Berezovsky's father-in-law became the Slonimer

(hereditary dynastic leader). He succeeded his father-in-law as rebbe on the latter's death in 1981. He was succeeded by his son Shmuel.

Works

Rabbi Berezovsky is best known for his seven-volume ''

Nesivos Sholom Sholom Noach Berezovsky (; August 18, 1911 – August 8, 2000) was the rebbe (hereditary rabbinic leader) of the Slonim dynasty of hasidim from 1981 until his death. His teachings were published as a series of books entitled ''Nesivos Sholom ...

'' (נתיבות שלום, "Paths of Peace"; see Hebrew article), a work which enjoys enormous popularity across the

Orthodox world Orthodoxy () is adherence to a purported "correct" or otherwise mainstream- or classically-accepted creed, especially in religion. Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical co ...

. It is described Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein
Nesivos Shalom
torah.org as "a mix of passionate and inspiring Chassidus, and Mussar that speaks directly to the individual", providing a "roadmap that leads inevitably to a higher place for the person seeking it". It is arranged around the

Weekly Torah portion The weekly Torah portion refers to a lectionary custom in Judaism in which a portion of the Torah (or Pentateuch) is read during Jewish prayer services on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. The full name, ''Parashat HaShavua'' (), is popularly abbre ...

and the special days of the year. It was published in 1982. Rabbi Berezovsky also published the works of other Slonimer rebbes. The Slonim

Hasidic dynasty A Hasidic dynasty or Chassidic dynasty is a dynasty led by Hasidic Jewish spiritual leaders known as rebbes, and usually has some or all of the following characteristics: * Each leader of the dynasty is referred to as an ''ADMOR'' (abbreviation ...

was almost wiped out in 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 ...

, and Berezovsky collected the oral traditions ascribed to previous Slonimer rebbes (who did not commit their teachings to writing) in works such as ''Divrei Shmuel'' and ''Toras Ovos''. He also wrote up his father-in-law's discourses which were subsequently published as ''Birkas Avrohom''. Finally, he also wrote books of his own teachings, including several smaller works on educational issues, marital harmony and other issues.

References

Sources

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 ...

, August 18, 2000, p. 24 and ''Marbitzei Torah Me'olam Ha'chasidut'' Vol. I, p. 177 and Vol. III, p. 167, quoted i
Hama'yan

Responding to Loss with Leadership: Nesivos Shalom on the Holocaust, Weinberg, Tzipora. August 9,2016

Early life

Rabbinic career

Works

References

Sources

Further reading