Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Ferber (1879–November 1966) was a renowned Talmud

Talmud

The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....

ic and Torah

Torah

Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...

 scholar, gifted orator, prolific author and tireless community builder. A man of outstanding knowledge and talent, he was an exemplar of old-world Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

n Torah scholarship and sagacity.

Born in Kovno, Lithuania, Rabbi Ferber studied in the prestigious Slabodka yeshiva

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...

, as well as under such Talmudic and Mussar giants as Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor

Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor

Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor was a Russian rabbi, Posek and Talmudic sage of the 19th century.- Early struggles :...

, Rabbi Yitzchak Blazer

Yitzchak Blazer

Yitzchak Blazer , also known as Reb Itzelle Peterburger, was one of the early leaders of the Musar movement, a Jewish ethical movement based in Lithuania. He was a student of the founder of the movement, Yisrael Salanter, and was responsible for publishing many of Salanter's letters in Or Yisrael...

 and Rabbi Naftali Amsterdam. He came to Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 in 1911, where he founded a 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...

 along with Rabbi Yehoshua Dov Silverstone.

Biography

Tzvi Hirsch was born to his parents Shimon Yehuda Leib (died March 9, 1906) and Chana Devorah (died December 29, 1911) in Slabodka

Vilijampole

Vilijampolė is an elderate in the city of Kaunas, Lithuania, located on the right bank of the Neris River and the Nemunas River, near their confluence. The elderate covers 1,720 hectares and houses about 32,000 people....

/Kovno Farber (note the spelling) in about 1878. He married Fraida the daughter of Tzvi Yosef Goldberg (died June 6, 1923).

London

In July 1913, he accepted a call to become Rabbi of the West End Talmud Torah Synagogue

Synagogue

A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...

 in Soho

Soho

Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, a disorganised community of working-class Jewish immigrants of 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"...

an origin. In a short span of time, Rabbi Ferber successfully centralised the unorganised Jewish activities and religious life of the community into one institution.

Active in communal affairs, Rabbi Ferber established the Chesed V’emeth Burial Society in 1915. He helped found the London yeshiva and was for many years the honorary secretary of the London "Vaad Harabonim" (rabbinical council) and chairman of the Association of London Rabbis ("Hisachdus Harabonim"). A member of its World Rabbinical council, Rabbi Ferber gave valuable assistance to the Agudas Yisroel

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...

 movement. He closely collaborated with Rabbi Dr M Jung and Rabbi Dr V Schonfeld in Shechita

Shechita

Shechita is the ritual slaughter of mammals and birds according to Jewish dietary laws...

 and other communal issues. He was a friend of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook, Chief Rabbi

Chief Rabbi

Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities...

 of Palestine, from the time that the latter was Rabbi of Machzike Hadath in London.

Rabbi Ferber was hugely admired and venerated by his congregants and colleagues worldwide. Indeed, when he left his seat, everyone stood up and bowed towards him as a sign of respect. He was described as a “man of saintliness and gentleness, loved and admired by all who came into contact with him”. One of the most riveting Jewish orators of his day, he preached his sermons in Yiddish, and could bring his congregation to tears of nostalgia, or “get everyone laughing within the space of two sentences".

Rabbi Ferber was rabbi of Soho for 42 years, from 1913 until his retirement in 1955. He died in 1966 in London, survived by his son Rabbi Jacob Ferber and four daughters. His daughter Liba (lilly) married Rabbi Shlomo Pesach Toperoff, who first served as rabbi of Sunderland and then as Rabbi of Newcastle Upon Tyne. He authored of many prolific works including Lev Avot, Echod Mi Yodea, Eternal Life a handbook for the mourner, and The Animal Kingdom in Jewish Thought.

Scholarship

In the world of Torah, Rabbi Ferber was renowned as an outstanding scholar and sage. A prolific author, he produced 22 acclaimed works of Torah scholarship

Sefer (Hebrew)

Sefer in simple Hebrew is a word that means any kind of "book" It is derived from the same Hebrew root-word as sofer , sifriyah and safrut ....

, perhaps the largest ever output by a Rabbi in England. He was also a frequent contributor to numerous Hebrew journals and an avid reader in the Hebrew collections of the British Library

British Library

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...

. Taking advantage of his location in the West End, he visited the Oriental Reading Room of the British Museum

British Museum

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...

 every day.

Works

• Kerem HaTzvi – 5 volume work on the Torah (Beraishis, Shemos, Vayikra, Bamidbar and Devarim) and Haggada
  Haggadah of Pesach
  The Haggadah is a Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder. Reading the Haggadah at the Seder table is a fulfillment of the Scriptural commandment to each Jew to "tell your son" of the Jewish liberation from slavery in Egypt as described in the Book of Exodus in the Torah...
  
  , Rabbi Ferber’s seminal work, issued between 1920 and 1938
• Degel Machane Yehudah – dealing with the influence of some archaeological finds on Torah interpretation (1925)
• Shvil HaTzvi - commentary on Megillas Esther
  Book of Esther
  The Book of Esther is a book in the Ketuvim , the third section of the Jewish Tanakh and is part of the Christian Old Testament. The Book of Esther or the Megillah is the basis for the Jewish celebration of Purim...
  
   (1933)
• Aishes Chayil - commentary on Aishes Chayil (1934)
• Birur Halacha - on civil marriages and divorce in Jewish law (1937)
• Kiryas Chana David - about King David (1950)
• Sefer Hamo'adim - volume of sermons (1950)
• Hegyonei Tzvi - on the end of days in Judaism (1952)
• Chamudei Tzvi - thoughts on the festivals and special periods of the year (1953)
• Hegyonei Avos - commentary on Pirkei Avos (1954)
• Siach Tzvi - commentary on prayer (1955)
• Kerem HaTorah (1956)
• Zivchei Todah - on Torah, prayer and Pirkei Avos (1957)