The Life and Legacy of Rav Dov Beirish

Rabbi Weidenfeld was the son of Rav Yaakov ‘Yekele’ Weidenfeld, author of Kochav MiYaakov, who served as Av Beis Din of Hrimlov, Galicia. He was a ben zekunim, a child born to his father, Rav Yekele, and mother Rachel in their old age, on Wednesday, the 5th of Shevat in 5641. Rav Dov Berish's maternal grandfather was the seventh link in an unbroken chain of poskim beginning with the Shach. His paternal grandfather was a talmid of Rav Yaakov Loeberbaum, mechaber of Nesivos HaMishpot. His father served as his main rebbe until he was niftar in 1894, just two weeks prior to Rav Berishel’s Bar Mitzva. Thereafter, he became a talmid of his two older brothers, Rav Yitzchok of Horimlov (where Berishel was also born) and Rav Nachum of Dombrova. At the age of nineteen, Rav Berish married Rebbetzin Yachat, the daughter of Rav Yisrael Yosef Kluger of Tchebin. At the age of twenty-four, he received semicha from Rav Yitzchok Shmelkish, the Bais Yitzchok. His wife administered a modest coal business to support him. In 1923, after twenty years of learning, he assumed the title of Tchebiner Rav. Along with his wife and youngest daughter, the Rav was deported to Sverdelovsk, Siberia, in late 1940. With the dissolution of the labor camp, the Rav escaped to Bukhara. The Tchebiner Rav arrived on the eve of Pesach, 1946, in Yerushalayim, which he was to call home for the rest of his life, settling in the Shaarei Chessed neighborhood. His responsa were collected in the sefer Doveiv Meishorim. His son-in-law and successor was Rosh Yeshiva of Kochav MiYaakov, Rav Boruch Shimon Schneersohn.