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Rabbi Zalman Levine
Rabbi Zalman Levine

Rabbi Mordechai Stern


==See also==
==See also==

Revision as of 13:48, 29 October 2021

Meitscheter Illui

Shlomo Polachek (Hebrew: שלמה פוליצ'ק; 1877 – July 9, 1928) was born in Sinichinitz, near Meitchet, Grodna. He was an important Talmudic scholar and one of the earliest roshei yeshiva in America.

Biography

He entered the Volozhin yeshiva when he was only twelve years old, and remained there until its close in the winter of 1892. He then went to learn with his mentor, Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik, in Brisk for the next four years. It was Rav Chaim that referred to him as the Meitscheter Illui (Talmudic genius from Meitchet). Chaim Soloveitchik commented that in all his life, he had never come upon a genius of the measure of the Meitscheter.

Polachek went on to become the rosh yeshiva in yeshivos in Lida and Białystok. At the invitation of Rabbi Dr. Dov Revel, Polachek arrived in America in 1922 to become a rosh yeshiva at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) the rabbinical school of Yeshiva University and its Yeshiva College, America's first yeshiva. He taught at RIETS for six years until his sudden passing in 1928.[1][2]

Ansichten

Polachek held some broad-minded views relative to some of his contemporaries. For example, Jeffrey S. Gurock writes in Judaism's Encounter with American Sports (Indiana University Press):[3]

...Polachek was silent on the importance of gyms and teams within the school [Yeshiva University]. But reportedly he did harbor a positive view of yeshivas encouraging students physical fitness. It was a Maimonidean-style point of view that [Bernard] Revel could have counted upon if he were ever challenged about what was going on in his Torah school...

— Jeffrey S. Gurock (2005). Judaism's Encounter with American Sports. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-34700-9.

Following the sudden passing of Polachek in 1928, Shimon Shkop was persuaded to replace him for a short period of time.[4] His children were notable in their own right, including daughter Rebbetzin Libby Mowshowitz (married to Rabbi Dr. Israel Mowshowitz), a son who received a PhD, and another son who became a doctor .[5]

Prominent Students

Some of Polachek's prominent students included:

Rabbi Menachem Perr[6]

Rabbi Nisan Waxman

Rabbi Nosson Meir Wachtfogel

Rabbi Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg

Rabbi Isaac Tendler

Rabbi Zalman Levine

Rabbi Mordechai Stern

See also

References

  • W. Helmreich. The World of the Yeshiva: An Intimate Portrait of Orthodox Judaism. Yale University Press, 1986 (Revised Edition, 2000).
  • M. Sherman. Orthodox Judaism in America: A Biographical Dictionary and Sourcebook. Greenwood Press, 1996.
  • http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/Molchadz/mol085.html