Meyer Abovitz
Encyclopedia
Meyer Abovitz was a Rabbi
and Rosh Yeshiva
active in Mizrachi
in Eastern Europe
between the Two World Wars.http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/pinkas_poland/pol8_00430.html
He studied
in Slabodka
, Kovno
and Radin
, and received Semicha
(ordination) from Rabbis Moshe Danishevsky, Hirsh Rabinovich, and Malkiel Tannenbaum, respectively holding the positions of Av Beit Din
(AB"D) in Slabodka, Kovno and Lomza. http://www.daat.ac.il/encyclopedia/value.asp?id1=2086 He was married to Chana nee
Malach; their daughter Rachel Fiege ("Fanny") was married to Rabbi Simcha Wasserman
. http://chinuch.org/Cheshvan.phphttp://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/baranowice/pages/baranowice_stories_wasserman.html
Rabbi Abovitz was AB"D and Rav in Telatycze
(White Russia
) and then Lubiezh (Lubcza
). The latter was destoyed during the early days of the First World War, and he then relocated to German held Navahrudak, where he headed
the Bet Yosef Yeshiva
http://books.google.com/books?id=pOWtjeac3mYC&pg=PA39&lpg=PA39&dq=Meir+Abovitz&source=bl&ots=2FET8H7fOs&sig=YiL22-9RfKIskGUDHZ0tUdhhDg0&hl=en&ei=jahUTt2PLtDsOfaavIwG&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCQQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Meir%20Abovitz&f=false; the Rav there was Meyer Meyerovitz.
Rabbi Abovitz participated in the founding assembly of Mizrachi of Lithuania and Poland, in Vilna, 1919; he was involved in various committees of the movement in Poland between the two World Wars. See Mizrachi in Poland. He was also active in "religious national education" http://www.daat.ac.il/encyclopedia/value.asp?id1=2086 which he saw a counterweight to the Jewish secular schools founded in Navahrudak following the First World War. Despite his involvement with Mizrachi he was also accepted by the Agudath Yisrael
.
Navahrudak was occupied by Nazi Germany
in July 1941, and Rabbi Abovitz was martyred with the rest of the Jewish population;http://horabis.blogspot.com/2007/10/ab-abowitz.html see Navahrudak: Later history.
He authored two works: Zichron Yeshayahu and Kochvei Ohr. http://www.hebrew-bibliography.com/searchg/ID_Author_%D7%90%D7%91%D7%95%D7%91%D7%99%D7%A5%20%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%99%D7%A8%20%D7%91%D7%9F%20%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%A2%D7%99%D7%94%D7%95.aspx
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
and Rosh Yeshiva
Rosh yeshiva
Rosh yeshiva, , , is the title given to the dean of a Talmudical academy . It is made up of the Hebrew words rosh — meaning head, and yeshiva — a school of religious Jewish education...
active in Mizrachi
Mizrachi (Religious Zionism)
The Mizrachi is the name of the religious Zionist organization founded in 1902 in Vilnius at a world conference of religious Zionists called by Rabbi Yitzchak Yaacov Reines. Bnei Akiva, which was founded in 1929, is the youth movement associated with Mizrachi...
in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
between the Two World Wars.http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/pinkas_poland/pol8_00430.html
He studied
Torah study
Torah study is the study by Jewish people of the Torah, Hebrew Bible, Talmud, responsa, rabbinic literature and similar works, all of which are Judaism's religious texts...
in Slabodka
Slabodka yeshiva
Hebron Yeshiva, also known as Yeshivas Hevron, or Knesses Yisroel, and originally as Slabodka Yeshiva, is known colloquially as the "mother of yeshivas" and was devoted to high=level study of the Talmud. The yeshiva was located in the Lithuanian town of Slabodka, adjacent to Kovno , now...
, Kovno
Kovno kollel
The Kovno Kollel also known as Kollel Perushim of Kovno or Kollel Knesses Beis Yitzchok, was a kollel located in Kaunas, Lithuania. It was founded in 1877 by Rabbi Yisrael Lipkin Salanter when he was 67....
and Radin
Radun Yeshiva
Raduń Yeshiva, originally located in Raduń, Poland , was established by the Chofetz Chaim in 1869.-Origins:In 1869 when the Chofetz Chaim returned from Vashilyshok to Raduń his first action was to establish a group to whom he could spread the knowledge of Torah...
, and received Semicha
Semicha
, also , or is derived from a Hebrew word which means to "rely on" or "to be authorized". It generally refers to the ordination of a rabbi within Judaism. In this sense it is the "transmission" of rabbinic authority to give advice or judgment in Jewish law...
(ordination) from Rabbis Moshe Danishevsky, Hirsh Rabinovich, and Malkiel Tannenbaum, respectively holding the positions of Av Beit Din
Av Beit Din
Av Beit Din, Av Beis Din, or Abh Beyth Diyn . was the second-highest ranking member of the Sanhedrin during the Second Commonwealth period. He presided over the Sanhedrin in the absence of the Nasi, and was the chief of the Sanhedrin when it sat as a criminal court...
(AB"D) in Slabodka, Kovno and Lomza. http://www.daat.ac.il/encyclopedia/value.asp?id1=2086 He was married to Chana nee
NEE
NEE is a political protest group whose goal was to provide an alternative for voters who are unhappy with all political parties at hand in Belgium, where voting is compulsory.The NEE party was founded in 2005 in Antwerp...
Malach; their daughter Rachel Fiege ("Fanny") was married to Rabbi Simcha Wasserman
Simcha Wasserman
Simcha Wasserman served as Dean of Yeshiva Beth Yehudah in Detroit in the 1940s, founded Yeshiva Ohr Elchonon in California in the 1950s, and later founded Yeshiva Ohr Elchonon in Jerusalem. He was the son of Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman, and was married to Rachel Fiege , the daughter of Meyer Abovitz...
. http://chinuch.org/Cheshvan.phphttp://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/baranowice/pages/baranowice_stories_wasserman.html
Rabbi Abovitz was AB"D and Rav in Telatycze
Telatycze
Telatycze is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Nurzec-Stacja, within Siemiatycze County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland, close to the border with Belarus. It lies approximately east of Nurzec-Stacja, east of Siemiatycze, and south of the regional capital...
(White Russia
White Russia
White Russia or White Ruthenia is a name that has historically been applied to a part of the wider region of Ruthenia or Rus', most often to that which roughly corresponds to the eastern part of present-day Belarus including the cities of Polatsk, Vitsyebsk and Mahiliou. In English, the use of the...
) and then Lubiezh (Lubcza
Lubcza
Lubcza may refer to the following places:*Lubcza, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship *Lubcza, Lesser Poland Voivodeship *Lubcza, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship *Lubcza, a town in Belarus, near Minsk...
). The latter was destoyed during the early days of the First World War, and he then relocated to German held Navahrudak, where he headed
Rosh yeshiva
Rosh yeshiva, , , is the title given to the dean of a Talmudical academy . It is made up of the Hebrew words rosh — meaning head, and yeshiva — a school of religious Jewish education...
the Bet Yosef Yeshiva
Yeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
http://books.google.com/books?id=pOWtjeac3mYC&pg=PA39&lpg=PA39&dq=Meir+Abovitz&source=bl&ots=2FET8H7fOs&sig=YiL22-9RfKIskGUDHZ0tUdhhDg0&hl=en&ei=jahUTt2PLtDsOfaavIwG&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCQQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Meir%20Abovitz&f=false; the Rav there was Meyer Meyerovitz.
Rabbi Abovitz participated in the founding assembly of Mizrachi of Lithuania and Poland, in Vilna, 1919; he was involved in various committees of the movement in Poland between the two World Wars. See Mizrachi in Poland. He was also active in "religious national education" http://www.daat.ac.il/encyclopedia/value.asp?id1=2086 which he saw a counterweight to the Jewish secular schools founded in Navahrudak following the First World War. Despite his involvement with Mizrachi he was also accepted by the Agudath Yisrael
World Agudath Israel
World Agudath Israel , usually known as the Aguda, was established in the early twentieth century as the political arm of Ashkenazi Torah Judaism, in succession to Agudas Shlumei Emunei Yisroel...
.
Navahrudak was occupied by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in July 1941, and Rabbi Abovitz was martyred with the rest of the Jewish population;http://horabis.blogspot.com/2007/10/ab-abowitz.html see Navahrudak: Later history.
He authored two works: Zichron Yeshayahu and Kochvei Ohr. http://www.hebrew-bibliography.com/searchg/ID_Author_%D7%90%D7%91%D7%95%D7%91%D7%99%D7%A5%20%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%99%D7%A8%20%D7%91%D7%9F%20%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%A2%D7%99%D7%94%D7%95.aspx
External links and references
- Abovitz, Meyer (HebrewHebrew languageHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
), אנציקלופדיה יהודית - Other references cited there: אנציקלופדיה של הציונות הדתית, א, עמ 2-1; ספר הציונות הדתית, ב, עמ 499