Yonah Karpilov
Rabbi Yonah Karpilov, more commonly called Rav Yonah Minsker was a student in known pre-WWII yeshivos. He was known to be a genius and was said to be the "greatest of all yeshiva bachurim in pre-war Europe."[1]
Biography
Rabbi Yonah Minsker was one of the prized students in the Mir Yeshiva in Europe and Yeshivas Brisk under Rabbi Yitzchok Zev Soloveichik. Despite being a student, it is said that he was worthy of being a rosh yeshiva (dean on yeshiva, a position in pre-War Eastern Europe only given to exceptional Torah scholars).[2] He was among the "lions of the Mir", the term given to the yeshiva's elite students and his chavrusah was Yechiel Michel Feinstein, who would later become a rosh yeshiva in Israel. Among his other friends and acquaintances in Mir were Rabbi Simcha Sheps, Rabbi Binyamin Zeilberger, Rabbi Reuven Grozovsky, Rabbi Leib Malin, and Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz, many of whom felt humbled by him.[3][4][5] He authored the sefer Yonas HaElem, and composed the song "Yetzaveh Tzur Chasdo."[6] R' Yonah first studied in the Mir Yeshiva before being chosen to go study in Brisk; he later returned to the Mir Yeshiva. At the outbreak of World War II, the Mir Yeshiva escaped their hometown to Lithuania. With the help of Japanese consul to Kaunas (Yiddish: Kovno), Chiune Sugihara, the yeshiva managed to escape Europe for Japan (and later Japanese-occupied Shanghai). R' Yonah however stayed behind in Kovno, and was murdered in the infamous Kaunas pogrom June 1941 while standing outside the Slabodka Yeshiva. When his rebbi, Rabbi Eliezer Yehudah Finkel, heard about R' Yonah's murder, he wept, saying "Woe to the land, for a great man is gone. We have lost a piece of the Torah!"[7]
References
- ^ Golberger, Rabbi Kalman (2020). The Thirteen Principles of Faith. Kiryat Sefer, Modiin Illit: Nachlas Moshe Publishing. p. 98. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
- ^ "Noted in Sorrow" (PDF). The Jewish Observer. XXXVIII (9): 6. November 2005. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
- ^ "In-Depth Focus on Greatness/Moreinu Horav Simcha Avrohom HaKohen Sheps zt'l" (PDF). Torahvodaath.org. Yeshiva Torah Vodaath. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
- ^ "Moreinu Horav Raphael Reuvain Grozovsky zt"l" (PDF). Torahvodaath.org. Yeshiva Torah Vodaath. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
- ^ "Noted in Sorrow" (PDF). The Jewish Observer. XXXVIII (9): 6. November 2005. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
- ^ ""Yetsaveh Tsur Chasdo" from R' Yonah Minsker Hy"d as ..." Youtube.com. Yeshivas Ner Yisrael. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
- ^ Yaakovson, Tzvi. "The Final Moments of the Life of Rav Elchonon Wasserman Hy"d: Eyewitness Accounts". Yated Neeman. Yated Neeman. Retrieved July 12, 2020.