Moshe Feinstein
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein ( March 3, 1895 in Usda near Minsk, † March 23, 1986 in New York) was a world famous Lithuanian Orthodox rabbi, leading halachic capacity, and during his lifetime the de facto supreme rabbinic authority ( Gadol Hador ) Orthodoxy North America.
Life
He was according to the Jewish calendar born on 7 Adar 5655 in Usda near Minsk in Belarus. Even the child and adolescents were evidences of its superior expertise given. The age of seven he controlled large parts of the order Neziqin. When Moshe was 16 years old, said Rabbi Pesach Pruskin, one of the then leading teacher: "I have a student who is taller than me. " He studied first with his father, Rabbi David Feinstein, then in yeshivot in Slutsk, Schklou and Mszislau.
After that, he was for sixteen years a rabbi in Lyuban. In 1920 he married Shima Kustanovich and had three children ( Fay Gittel, Shifra and David) with her.
Because of the stronger anti-Jewish repressions of the Soviet regime, he moved - under international pressure for his emigration - with his family in 1936 in the United States, after New York City, where he remained until his death. He was head of the school of Mesivta Tiferes Jerusalem Jeschiba what an offshoot in Staten Iceland, New York, was founded by him later. Even his sons, Rabbi Reuven Feinstein and Rabbi David Feinstein, were active in these training centers.
Moshe Feinstein was chairman of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada, as he presided over the Gedolei HaTorah of Agudath Israel Moetzes of America since the 1960s until his death. In addition, he was one of the leading figures in Israel's Chinuch Atzmai ( training organization for children of Orthodox parents).
The Steipler Gaon, Rabbi Yonasan Stiff, Rabbi Eliyahu Lopian, Rabbi Aharon Kotler, Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky and Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv revered Moshe Feinstein and bestowed on him the title " Gadol Hador " ( " the greatest Torah sage of the living generation) - although many of them were much older than him. Worldwide he enjoyed a high reputation, and it was referred to it complex halachic questions for decision.
At his funeral, attended by - among many others - the Satmar Rebbe spoke to the mourners, about 300 000 people took part. Rabbi Feinstein enjoyed such a high reputation that the famous Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach refused to talk to Feinstein's honor, saying, " Who am I, that I could speak in his honor? I studied his books, I was his student. "
Rabbi Feinstein is buried in the Har HaMenuchot cemetery in Jerusalem next to his teacher, Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer, near the tomb of the Belzer Rebbe.
Major works
- Igros Moshe (8 volumes halachic responsa )
- Dibros Moshe ( 11 volumes )
- Darash Moshe (posthumous )
Some of Feinstein's early drafts, including a commentary on the Talmud Yerushalmi, were destroyed by the Soviets.