Aryeh Leib Schochet
Encyclopedia
Rabbi Aryeh Leib Schochet (אריה לייב שוחט) was a Russian
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....

 rabbi who emigrated to the United States in 1906. He published one of the first books on Chassidus in America titled Lekutim Yekarim.

Biography

R. Aryeh Leib was born in Russia in 1845 to his father Yaacov Nisson a student of Rabbi Refoel of Bershad
Bershad
Bershad , is a small city in the Vinnytsia Oblast of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Bershadsky Raion .The population is around 13,300 ....

. His mother Shaindel was the daughter of Rabbi Yosef Zev Wolf Segal. He grew up in a town mostly occupied by Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...

 of Rabbi Refoel of Bershad, however he himself was a student of Rabbi Dovid of Tolna. In his booke he relates how his uncle Reuven took care of Rabbi Avraham of Slovotia, while he recuperated from being lashed 1500 times by the Russian Government. Avraham and his brother where the owners a printing house. As was common, the text of published books would have to be edited to not have any negative remarks about the government, or other nations and religions other than Judaism. In Aryeh Leib's book he relates several stories involving Rabbi Avroham and himself at the age of twelve.

Rabbinate

Aryeh Leib became rabbi of the Russian town of Radifke (Vradiyivka, Mykolaiv
Mykolaiv
Mykolaiv , also known as Nikolayev , is a city in southern Ukraine, administrative center of the Mykolaiv Oblast. Mykolaiv is the main ship building center of the Black Sea, and, arguably, the whole Eastern Europe.-Name of city:...

) which is near the southern border of modern Ukraine. He served in several capacities in addition to his general rabbinic duties, including shechita
Shechita
Shechita is the ritual slaughter of mammals and birds according to Jewish dietary laws...

 or kosher animal slaughtering and as being a mohel
Mohel
A mohel is a Jewish person trained in the practice of brit milah "covenant of circumcision."-Etymology of the Hebrew and Aramaic term:...

 or ritual circumciser. He was the catalyst for the founding of a Bikur Cholim (visiting the sick) organization and various charitable institutions. The founding of these organizations is detailed in a later chapter in his book.

Emigration

In August 1906 he emigrated to the United States with his son Abraham, after he was drafted into the Russian army. While in Amsterdam awaiting his ships embarkment he was the guest of the Chief Rabbi. Arriving in Ellis Island
Ellis Island
Ellis Island in New York Harbor was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States. It was the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954. The island was greatly expanded with landfill between 1892 and 1934. Before that, the much smaller original island was the...

 he settled in the Brownsville
Brownsville, Brooklyn
Brownsville is a residential neighborhood located in eastern Brooklyn, New York City.The total land area is one square mile, and the ZIP code for the neighborhood is 11212....

 section of Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 which was the largest Jewish neighborhood outside of the Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....

.

He had a close relationship with many of his American Rabbic colleagues. Upon arrival he was reunited with his childhood friend Rabbi Yehoshua Heschel Rabinowits the Rebbe
Rebbe
Rebbe , which means master, teacher, or mentor, is a Yiddish word derived from the Hebrew word Rabbi. It often refers to the leader of a Hasidic Jewish movement...

 of Monostritz.

Lekutim Yekarim

He published his book Lekutim Yekarim in 1926. It was one of if not the first books on the topic of chassidus published in America at that time. It was printed with several approbation from leading rabbinic figures. Including Rabbi Yehoushua Heschel Rabinowitz, the Rebbe of Monostritz, Rabbi Dovid Moredechai Twersky, Rebbe of Tolna
Tolna
Tolna is a town in Tolna county, Hungary. It lies about north of Szekszárd and south of Budapest....

 and Rabbi Moshe Tzvi Twersky, Rebbe of Tolna - Philadelphia.
The sefer contains many essays of recorded sermons used in Radifke. It includes stories and teachings from tens of Rabbis of earlier generations. Quoted several times is Rabbi Yisroel Baal Shem Tov, Rabbi Eliyahu of Villna, the Villan Goan. Rabbi Dovid'l Tolner,

External links

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