Rav Chaim was born on 23 Iyar 5623/1863, the son of Rav Boruch of Vizhnitz. He was named after his grandfather, Rav Chaim of Kosuv. He later became the son-in-law of Rav Yitzchok Friedman of Bohush; his second marriage was to the daughter of Rav Shraga Yair of Bialobruzhig, a descendant of the Yid HaKodosh. His third marriage was to the daughter of Rav Tzvi Hirsch Horowitz of Rozhvaduv.
He was famed in his youth for his genius, whose talents by age thirteen earned him semicha from Gedolei Hador, such as Rav Shlomo Drimer, mechaber of Bais Shlomo; Rav Yitzchok Aharon Etinga of Lwow; Rav Yaakov Weidenfeld; and Rav Yitzchok Shmelkas.
In the year 5653 he was appointed Rebbe of Atinia near Stanislov, although many Chassidim accepted his older brother Rav Yisrael’s authority, since he had succeeded their father as Vizhnizter Rebbe. Still, thousands flocked to him, especially the Vizhnitzer Chassidim of Galicia. Among the sharp-minded lamdonim of Vizhnitz from Rumania, many became his followers and Chassidim as well. The Chassidim built him a magnificent Bais Medrash that had room for a thousand worshippers.
Despite his role as Rebbe, he remained deeply engrossed in Torah study day and night. His conversations with his followers and Chassidim were full of chiddushei Torah.
In 5655 he was appointed Nosi of the Bukowina Kollel in Eretz Yisrael, and they purchased a home for the poor avreichim in Yerushalayim. In 5664, he fell gravely ill and and underwent surgery, later recovering.
During the First World War, Rav Chaim fled to Vienna for four years. When he returned, he moved to Stanislov and from there back to Atinia, which was in ruins. When Petlura’s army entered Stanislov, he fled to Czernowitz and remained there for half a year, returning later to Stanislov and remaining a central figure in active public policy.
Among his activities he refounded Yeshivas Ohr Torah in 5684. He was also a key figure in Vaad HoRabbonim and their conference in Lwow in 1928.
His own handwritten manuscripts for the complete seforim Os Chaim on Piskei Rishonim Ve’Achronim, Motza Chaim on Shulchon Aruch, Zecher Chaim on Shas and Tav Chaim on Kabbola were all ready for publication but were lost during World War I. His Chassidus discourses were never written down and said quietly, and therefore they were lost as well.
After the Second World War, Rav Chaim Weltzer published Nimukei Chaim on Halocha from a hand-copied manuscript that he took with him before the war and that was saved. The sefer contains a small number of Chassidic discourses named Tal Chaim, which Rav Litman Weltzer managed to record and that were miraculously saved from the Holocaust and later printed in Tel Aviv.
In 5692, he grew seriously ill and went to Vienna to seek medical care and then to Cracow for surgery. The surgery, however, was unsuccessful and he was niftar on Shabbos night. His children from his first marriage were: Rav Yisrael Sholom Yosef, who succeeded him in Stanislov, Rav Menachem Mendel, who was niftar in his father’s lifetime, Henya, the wife of Rav Aharon Friedman of Boyan-Czernowitz (in her second marriage she became the wife of Rav Yisrael of Husyatin) and Bluma Raizel, the wife of Rav Yechiel Michel of Horodenka.
(Tiferes Shebemalchus p. 202–211)
