Rav Zev Wolf Tenenbaum Av Beis Din of Verpeleter, Rechovos Hanahar (Elul 2, 5633 / 1873 - 150th Yahrzeit)
(Some say the Yahrzeit is on the 1st of Elul)
Rav Zev Wolf, the son of Rav Tzvi, was born in Badala. He spent nine years as a talmid of Rav Amram Chasida, and taught Torah in Sendra for 27 years. He was appointed Av Beis Din of Verpelet in 5607 תר"ז. Rav Zev Wolf was renowned as a gaon and a tzaddik as well as a beautiful orator. He authored at least four volumes of immense value: Rechovos HaNahar on the Torah, Palgei Mayim (drashos), Kirya Ne’emana (drashos), and Ayeles HaShachar on Megillas Esther.
He married the daughter of Rav Shraga Feibish Frenkel, Av Beis Din of Ruska. Rav Shraga Feibish was descended from the famed Baruch Teomim family, whose members included the author of Baruch Taam of Leipnik. Rav Zev Wolf’s two sons were also tzaddikim: Rav Shraga Tzvi (yahrzeit 4 Adar), Av Beis Din of Tshata and author of Neta Sorek, and Rav Yaakov (yahrzeit 28 Kislev), Av Beis Din of Potnack and author of Naharei Shemen Afarsemon.
Rav Zev Wolf passed away on 2 Elul in the year 5633 תרל"ג
Rav Meir Chaim Schick (Elul 2, 5691 / 1931 - 92nd Yahrzeit)
The son of Rav Yaakov Schick, Av Beis Din of Nadobar, Rav Meir Chaim was a great lamdan who was very wise and witty and possessed outstanding middos. He and his brother Rav Menachem, the Av Beis Din of Siksa, were descended from Rav Dovid Schick, the Av Beis Din of Tokay and the son-in-law of Rav Asher Anshel Jungreis HaLevi, the Av Beis Din of Tshenger and author of Menuchas Asher (yahrzeit 5 Kislev).
His first marriage was to the daughter of Rav Yaakov Yosef Katz, Av Beis Din of Mishkoltz. In the year 5652/תרנ''ב he was appointed Av Beis Din of Anad. Rav Meir Chaim passed away on 2 Elul in the year .תרצ''א/5691
Rav Eliezer Hager Damesek Eliezer (Elul 2, 5706 / 1946 - 77th Yahrzeit)
Rav Eliezer of Vizhnitz was born in Bedevilla, the town where his father served as Rav, on Shabbos (Parshas Yisro), 22 Shevat, in the year 5651/תרנ״א. He was named after his maternal grandfather, Rav Eliezer of Dzhikov. At the age of 16, on Thursday, 15 Sivan 5667/תרס״ז, Rav Eliezer married Chava, the daughter of Rav Yitzchok Meir Heschel of Kopischnitz and the great-granddaughter of the Rizhiner. He received smicha from the Maharsham of Berzhan, Maharsh Engel of Radomishla, and the Gram Shteinberg of Brody, author of Machzeh Avrohom.
When World War I broke out, Rav Eliezer and his father-in-law fled from Galicia to Bukowina. After stopping in Vizhnitz for a few days, they learned that the Russian army was approaching, so they continued on to Vienna, Austria. In Vienna, Rav Eliezer met and learned with the tzaddikim of the Rizhiner dynasty who had also taken up shelter there. He also learned with the gedolim Rav Meir Arik, Rav Yosef Engel and Rav Shteinberg, and he gained greatly from their Torah.
During this period, he worked hard to help the thousands of Jewish refugees who had flocked to Vienna, doing his utmost to ease their pain and attend to their physical and spiritual needs. He raised money to provide refugees with food and clothing; he sent anonymous care packages to those who were too proud to ask for handouts; and he worked tirelessly to obtain deferment and release for those who had been conscripted to serve in the Austrian army at the front. He also founded the kloiz of Chassidei Vizhnitz, which remained a center for Torah and Chassidus until it was destroyed by the Nazis.
At the end of World War I, his father, the Ahavas Yisroel, took up residence in Grossvardayn and the center of Chassidus moved with him. On Lag Ba’Omer, 5682/תרפ״ב, with his father’s blessings, he was crowned as Chief Rabbi of Vizhnitz. He returned to Bukowina and established a Chassidic yeshiva for the Jewry of Bukowina and Bessarabia, which saved thousands of youngsters from the spiritual dangers of assimilation. His talmidim included the Yeshuos Moshe of Vizhnitz. In addition to being the Chief Rabbi of Vizhnitz, he also served as the head of Agudas Yisroel in Bukowina.
He was crowned as Rebbe after his father’s passing in 5696/תרצ״ו. At the beginning of World War II, in 5700/ת״ש, the Russians took over Vizhnitz, so he fled to Temishvar, where the local Jewish population became his Chassidim and followers. He did his utmost during the war to aid the Jews living in Transnistriya.
He made aliya in 5704/תש״ד and lived in Tel Aviv, where he re-established the Vizhnitzer Yeshiva and was among the foremost Chassidic leaders in the Holy Land. After a serious illness (an inflammation of the lining of his lungs, which he suffered in silence), he passed away on 2 Elul 5706/תש״ו and was laid to rest on Har HaZeisim.
Rav Yisroel Elozor Hopstein (Elul 2, 5726 / 1966 - 57th Yahrzeit)
Rav Yisrael Elazar Hopstein was the son of Rav Yerachmiel Moshe of Kozhnitz. He was born in Elul 5658/1898, and was a sixth-generation descendant of the Maggid of Kozhnitz. He was named Yisrael after the Maggid.
Rav Yisrael Elazar learned under Rav Meir Yechiel of Ostrovtza, and was given semicha by him as well. Rav Yisrael Elazar married the daughter of Rav Mordechai Yosef Twersky of Zlatipola. After the petira of his father, on the thirteenth of Elul 5669/1909, Rav Yisrael Elazar was appointed Rebbe.
In 5684/1924, with a desire to help settle Eretz Yisrael, Rav Yisrael Elazar headed a group of Chassidim who bought properties in Eretz Yisrael. Rav Yisrael Elazar himself traveled to Eretz Yisrael with a group of Chassidim, where they founded the city Kfar Chassidim, together with the Chassidim of the Yablona Rebbe.
Rav Yisrael Elazar was forced to leave Eretz Yisrael for health reasons, and was appointed Rav of the community in Paris. When the Nazis occupied Paris, Rav Yisrael Elazar was taken away as he tried to flee. He was transferred to Nice, and from there he managed to escape to America in 5701/1941.
In America, Rav Yisrael Elazar rebuilt the Kozhnitzer Chassidus. Unfortunately, all the seforim and precious items he had inherited from his forebears were lost in the war.
In 5726/1966, Rav Yisrael Elazar decided to return to Eretz Yisrael and even managed to found a Bais Medrash for the Kozhnitzer Chassidim there. Until then, they davened in an apartment.
Upon returning to America to take care of some details, Rav Yisrael Elazar was suddenly niftar, on the second of Elul 5726/1966, at the age of sixty-eight. His mitta was flown to Eretz Yisrael, where he was buried in the Sanhedria Bais Olam in Yerushalayim.
Rav Yisrael Elazar’s Divrei Torah were published in the sefer Avodas Elazar. Zecher tzaddik livrachah.
