12 February 2026
Why Is There A Poverty Crisis in Israel?
AND WHY ARE OUR SOLDIERS IN THE FIELD,
IN THE BEIS MEDRASH,
IN THE CHILDRENS *NURSERIES
WANTING FOR FOOD AND OTHER NECESSARY ITEMS?
IN THE BEIS MEDRASH,
IN THE CHILDRENS *NURSERIES
WANTING FOR FOOD AND OTHER NECESSARY ITEMS?
Purim: Bringing Joy to Widows and Orphans
Purim should be a joyful time, especially for children. Yet for many widows, even preparing a festive meal is a struggle. This year, we will provide food vouchers and baskets to 400 widows and more than 1,800 orphaned children, ensuring they can celebrate with dignity in their own homes. No mother should fear an empty table — especially on Purim.
Real Impact: Families in Kiryat Shmona
Thanks to your generosity, our December matching campaign was a success. Because of you, 400 families in Kiryat Shmona are now receiving weekly food baskets. Only about 40% of residents have returned home, and many came back to shuttered businesses and lost income. For countless families, basic food remains a daily challenge. Your support is helping them survive and begin to rebuild.
Israel’s Poverty Crisis
Israel’s official 2024 Poverty Report paints a troubling picture: nearly 2 million Israelis are living in poverty, including 880,000 children, and more than one in four children is growing up below the poverty line. Ongoing war, rising living costs, and a weakening shekel have deepened the crisis, while the strengthening U.S. dollar means donations now go about 20% less far than last year. In response, Yad Ezra V’Shulamit is delivering 12,000 food baskets each week, providing daily hot meals to children, supplying baby formula to mothers in need, and sponsoring weddings for orphans who would otherwise have no support. To maintain even last year’s level of assistance, we must raise at least 25% more this year—and the need continues to grow.
A Vision for the Future
[...]learn more about the new National Food Distribution Center we are building, which will allow us to help thousands more families efficiently and quickly.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bitachon 246 - Removing Our Idols
We study together the passuk in Yirmiyahu perek 48 passuk 7, which speaks of the power and wealth of the people of Moav, and how they were dependent upon an idol named 'kamush.' Ultimately, their lack of faith in the true God of the Universe is what causes them to go into exile alongside the idols they worshipped and the priests and princes who lead them in that worship
Moa the Nabatean, and the Queen of Sheba's Journey to King Solomon
We are in Moa, which was a Nabatean city located at an important crossroads in ancient times. One road at the crossroads is from Eilat to the Dead Sea, and the road that crosses it is from the east, from Petra to the coast of Gaza. Moa served as a way station for merchant caravans on the Spice Route.
Two biblical figures are associated with this route: the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon. How?
All the details in the film. The appearance of the camel as a vehicle for desert caravans in the Near East in the 11th-13th centuries BCE was a transportation revolution that opened up direct routes across the desert, from the Persian Gulf and southern Arabia to the Mediterranean Sea. Camel caravans are a complex thing from an organizational perspective: the number of camels in a caravan ranged from a few to a few hundred. The leader was chosen by the initiator, just as a contractor today is chosen by the initiator of a construction project. The leader had overall responsibility: from the organization of the caravan to its dispersal in the destination city.
There were many other roles that helped the caravan leader, for example: a guide, camel drivers, as in taxis - they were the camel owners or hired drivers. The journey lasted up to two to three months. The route of movement was chosen by the leader based on a situation assessment that took into account considerations of offenses, the seasons, the condition of water sources along the route, the condition of the pastures, the security situation along the various routes, the amount of payments to be paid for passage, and other factors.
Additional. Loaded pack camels, moving at a speed of about four kilometers per hour, about 30-40 km per day. The camel made the road from southern Arabia to the Land of Israel possible in the middle of the 10th century BCE.
Rabbi Wein - Mishpatim
~ QUOTE OF THE WEEK ~
"Judaism in its essence is a system of values that are expressed in concrete and practical form through the observances of Jewish tradition, ritual and commandments."
WEEKLY PARSHA FROM THE DESTINY ARCHIVES
Mishpatim 5768/2008
The Torah follows its exhilarating and inspirational description of the revelation at Mount Sinai with a rather dry and detailed set of various laws that are to be followed by the people of Israel. It is one thing to be inspired and thus acquire great ideals. It is another thing completely to be able to transfer those ideals and inspiration into everyday life on a regular basis.
We are all aware that the devil is always in the details. It is natural to agree that one should not steal or murder. But what is really the definition of stealing? Is taking something that originally did not belong to you always considered stealing? How about grabbing my neighbor’s rope and using it to save a drowning person? Is that also stealing? Is self-defense murder? Are court- imposed death penalties murder?
How do we deal with such complex moral issues? This is really the crux of all halacha and this week’s parsha serves as our introduction to the concepts of Jewish law. Without an understanding of the practice of halacha, the great ideals and inspiration of the Torah are almost rendered meaningless and unachievable.
The Torah concentrates not only on great ideas but on small details as well. From these small details spring forth the realization of great ideals, and the ability to make them of practical value and use in everyday life. Hence the intimate connection between this week’s parsha and the revelation at Mount Sinai discussed in last week’s parsha. There is a natural and necessary continuity in the narrative flow of these two parshiyot of the Torah.
I think that this idea is borne out by the famous statement of the Jewish people when asked if they wished to accept the Torah. In this week’s parsha their answer is recorded as: “We will do, and we will listen.” All commentators and the Talmud comments upon the apparently reverse order of this statement. People usually listen for instructions before they “do.” But the simple answer is that the people of Israel realized that listening alone will be insufficient.
The great and holy generalities of the Torah are valid only if they are clearly defined, detailed and placed into everyday life activities. We have to “do” in order to be able to “listen” and understand the Torah’s guidance and wishes fully. The Talmud records that a non-Jew once told a rabbi that the Jews were a “hasty and impulsive people” in accepting the Torah without first checking out its contents. In reality that holy hastiness of Israel was a considered and mature understanding that a Torah of ideas and inspiration alone without a practical guide to life would not last over the centuries of Jewish history.
Only those who are willing to “do” and who know what to “do” will eventually appreciate intellectually and emotionally the greatness of Torah. Only then will they be able to truly “listen” and appreciate the great gift that the Lord has bestowed upon Israel – the eternal and holy Torah.
Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Berel Wein
ARE YOU RETURNING LOST JEWS? ........
.....The Seering Indictment of the Chofetz Chaim
3 Sharp Divrei Torah on Parshas Mishpatim {Pninei Kedem}
Hippopotamuses?
|
LONDON: Another Pogrom
LIVE: Islamist Attack In London School - Multiple Casualties - Police Covers Up Jihad
11 February 2026
LONDON: Charedi Orthodox Jewish Community Speak Out Against Schools Bill ......
.......to Defend Their Religious Freedom
They gathered outside Parliament, prayed and gave speeches, then walked to Downing Street where the police moved in to tell them to turn off their speaker, before returning to Parliament, where some wore chains to symbolise their willingness to face imprisonment for their beliefs.
Skip to @1:42 where they speak in English.
🛑 The “Press Release” leaflet reads…
Charedi Orthodox Jewish Community Protests Outside Parliament Square, London, Against the ‘Schools Bill 2025–26’.
The UK’s Charedi Orthodox Jewish community is protesting outside Parliament against the final reading of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill 2025–26, urging its reconsideration. Community leaders argue that the Bill threatens religious freedom, cultural preservation, and faith practices.
The Bill introduces new regulations that restrict religious practices.
The Rabbinical Committee for Traditional Charedi Chinuch (RCTCC) calls the Bill “repressive” and warns that it would undermine Torah education and their way of life.
We cannot comply with the Bill’s provisions without violating our religion.
Charedi leaders compare the Bill to historic religious oppression and believe it targets long-established faith practices.
The Bill’s impact assessment acknowledges significant effects on the Charedi community. Community members claim government pressure from secular anti-faith groups, including Humanists UK and the National Secular Society (NSS), which have advocated for this Bill for over a decade.
They state this has created anti-religious prejudice, calling the Bill a substantial threat to their freedoms and claiming it is no less than religious genocide.
The community states it cannot comply with any Bill requirements that conflict with religious practices, including any requirement to reduce the hours of religious education or practice.
If the Bill passes unamended, the community will pursue all legal avenues to protect religious rights, in particular the relevant Articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantee freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.
The community urges the authorities to seriously consider the legal consequences of enacting legislation that may violate fundamental human rights protections.
The community reaffirms its unwavering commitment to its faith and religious obligations, refusing to alter them regardless of the Bill’s outcome. Its dedication to the Torah—received from G-D at Mount Sinai and preserved across generations—remains steadfast.
Under no circumstances will the community compromise or modify its Torah-based way of life.
Throughout history, sacrifices have been made to uphold these values, and the community remains devoted even in the face of imprisonment.
Leaders state that the Bill’s authors have not accommodated the needs of true Torah-observant Jews.
They further clarify that organisations claiming the Bill’s requirements are compatible with the Torah—if only traditional practices are modified—do not speak in their name. Organisations led by Mr Cohen are not seen as genuine representatives of Charedi Jews. His secular Zionist outlook and ties to reformist organisations stand in direct opposition to the core religious values and practices of the Charedi community.
The Bill grants broad and disproportionate powers through secondary legislation, which the community fears will undermine their faith practices.
The community vows to defend religious freedom and the right to provide education in line with their beliefs, viewing the Bill as a threat to liberty and democracy.
Our request:
“We appeal to His Majesty’s Government to allow the Charedi community to continue its way of life in an atmosphere of tolerance and acceptance, as it has for many generations.”
Rabbinical Committee for Traditional Charedi Chinuch
For further information, please contact:
RCTCC
Email: mail@rctcc.co.uk
L.Y. Weiss
Mobile: 07974 414192
This Is A Siman……Ten Days
FAA grounds all El Paso flights for 10 days
Esser Agaroth: Palestine on the Nile……
Palestine: If You Tell A Lie Enough, You Will Eventually Believe It
פלסטין: אם משקרים מספיק אז בסופו של דבר מאמינים את השקר
#TeamMoshiach - Signs of Moshiach in 2026 - USA War with Iran, Nova Star Over Rome
The Zohar teaches about the Signs of Moshiach's Arrival in 2026. The USA defeats Iran in a War, the Appearance of the Nova Star in the Corona Borealis over the City of Rome.
Also must read: https://shiratdevorah.blogspot.com/2026/02/thats-sky-and-thats-passing-planet.html
Rabbi Chaim Shraga Feivel Frank zt”l
......the Gvir Who 4 Yeshivos Owe Their Existence to
Without This Man, There Would Be No BMG in Lakewood
Today, Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, New Jersey, stands as the largest post-graduate Torah institution in the world, with some 7,000 students and 13,000 alumni. Its founding rosh yeshiva, Rav Aharon Kotler, arrived in America in 1941 and established BMG two years later, planting a seed that would transform the landscape of American Torah life. But the chain of events that led to the founding of BMG stretches back decades earlier—across an ocean, to a leather factory and estate in Aleksot, the suburb across the Nieman River from Kovno, Lithuania. It stretches back to a man who died at the age of forty-three, but whose deathbed instructions to his wife would reshape the Torah world for generations to come.
That man was Rav Chaim Shraga Feivel Frank.
On his deathbed, Rav Shraga Feivel instructed his wife, Golda, that since Heaven had not granted him time to guide his four daughters into marriage, the obligation now rested upon her. And he specified that the four men she chose for his four girls must be not only talmidei chachamim, but men of “shivti”—a Mussar term drawn from the passuk in Tehillim, “Shivti b’veis Hashem kol y’mei chayai” (27:4)—men who would dedicate their entire lives to Torah study and its propagation. He further instructed her to spend every last cent of the family fortune on maintaining these sons-in-law and their families in a life of learning.
Golda Frank fulfilled her husband’s dying wish with extraordinary faithfulness. She chose four sons-in-law who became towering pillars of the Torah world: Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein, who would become Rosh Yeshiva of the Slabodka Yeshiva and later lead it to Chevron and Yerushalayim; Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer, who would lead the yeshivos of Slutsk, Kletzk, and Eitz Chaim in Yerushalayim; Rav Boruch Horowitz, who would serve as Rav of Aleksot, Rosh Yeshiva in Slabodka, and chairman of Agudas Yisroel in Lithuania (later succeeding his brother-in-law Rav Moshe Mordechai to the presidency of the Agudas HaRabbonim of Lithuania); and Rav Sheftel Kramer, who would serve as Rosh Yeshiva in Slutsk and later as mashgiach at the yeshiva in New Haven, Connecticut—the first yeshiva in the United States outside of New York City.
It was Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer—Rav Shraga Feivel’s second son-in-law—whose daughter, Chana Perel, married the young iluy of Slabodka, Rav Aharon Kotler.
Rav Aharon had learned under Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein (Rav Shraga Feivel’s first son-in-law) in Slabodka, then joined his father-in-law Rav Isser Zalman in Slutsk, and eventually led the yeshiva when it moved to Kletzk. When he escaped the inferno of Europe and arrived in America in 1941, it was the Torah values—the insistence on shivti, on total devotion to learning—that Rav Shraga Feivel Frank had implanted in his family that Rav Aharon Kotler carried with him to Lakewood. Thus the very DNA of BMG—its uncompromising commitment to full-time Torah learning as the highest calling—can be traced directly to the vision and the will of a leather merchant in Aleksot.
Nor was BMG the only institution that owes its existence to this family. Rav Sheftel Kramer’s eldest son-in-law, Rav Yaakov Yitzchak Ruderman, went on to establish Yeshivas Ner Israel in Baltimore; Rav Sheftel’s youngest son-in-law, Rav Naftali Neuberger, became its legendary menahel. The Slabodka-Chevron Yeshiva, today one of the largest in Eretz Yisrael, traces its leadership lineage through Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein and his sons-in-law Rav Yechezkel Sarna, Rav Moshe Chevroni, and Rav Aharon Cohen. The ripple effects of one man’s deathbed tzavaah reached across continents and across a century.
A Bridge Between Two Worlds
There are individuals whose lives become a bridge connecting the world of Torah scholarship with the world of material sustenance—people who understand that the survival of the Jewish spirit depends not only on great minds but also on great hearts. Rabbi Chaim Shraga Feivel Frank of Kovno was one such individual. His story reads like a chapter from the Talmud’s descriptions of the great philanthropists of antiquity, yet it unfolded in the streets of nineteenth-century Lithuania, amidst the tumult of industrialization, imperial politics, and the ever-present struggle of a people clinging to its sacred heritage.
In a time when the Jewish world was buffeted by the winds of Haskalah and the pressures of modernity, when yeshivos struggled to keep their doors open and talmidei chachamim could barely feed their families, Rav Chaim Shraga Feivel Frank stood as a pillar of support. He was not merely a wealthy man who gave charity. He was a visionary who understood that every ruble invested in Torah was an investment in eternity.
The City of Kovno: A Metropolis of Torah
To understand the man, one must first understand his city. Kovno—known in Lithuanian as Kaunas—sits at the confluence of two great rivers, the Nieman and the Vilia, in the heart of what is now central Lithuania. In the nineteenth century, it served as the capital of the Kovno Governorate, one of the westernmost provinces of the Russian Empire’s Pale of Settlement—that vast, legally mandated zone within which millions of Jews were compelled to reside. For the Jews who lived within its borders, the Pale was both home and restriction—a land of vibrant Jewish life bounded by Tsarist limitation.
Kovno’s Jewish community grew dramatically during the nineteenth century. In 1847, there were approximately 2,013 Jews living in Kovno and its suburb Slobodka. By 1864, the number had risen to 16,540, and by 1897 the community had swelled to 25,441—roughly thirty percent of the city’s total population. The arrival of the railway in 1861, connecting Kovno to the main line running from St. Petersburg to Warsaw, transformed the city into a commercial and intellectual hub. Scholars and students traveled along these new arteries to and from the great yeshivos that made Kovno a citadel of learning.
Across the Nieman to the south lay Aleksot (Aleksotas), perched on rolling green hills—a suburb with its own fascinating history. In Rav Shraga Feivel’s day, Aleksot had the quirk of operating under a different calendar than Kovno proper: the Gregorian calendar on the Aleksot side versus the Julian calendar used in the Russian governorate across the river. Locals joked that the bridge connecting the two was “the longest bridge in the world”—because it took twelve days to cross. It was on those green hills of Aleksot, in that liminal space between two jurisdictions, that Rav Shraga Feivel Frank built his estate and his legacy.
The Leather Merchant: Industry and Enterprise
Rav Shraga Feivel Frank was one of the wealthiest men in Kovno. He owned a leather factory, a leather goods store, and a great deal of real estate. The leather and fur trades were among the most prominent economic sectors in Lithuania’s Jewish communities, and the mid-nineteenth century was a period of rapid industrial transformation in the Russian Empire. Tsar Alexander II’s reforms of the 1860s—including the emancipation of the serfs and the relaxation of some restrictions on Jewish economic activity—created new opportunities for entrepreneurial Jews. The expansion of the railway system enabled raw materials to be transported more efficiently and finished goods to reach broader markets. For a leather merchant in Kovno, the railroad’s arrival meant access to suppliers across the vast forests of the Empire and to customers in Western European markets.
It was in this dynamic economic environment that Rav Shraga Feivel Frank built his fortune. Yet unlike many of his wealthy peers—who were drawn either toward the Haskalah or toward the ostentatious display of wealth—Rav Shraga Feivel channeled his prosperity into an entirely different direction.
Talmid and Patron of Rav Yisrael Salanter
Rav Shraga Feivel was himself a talmid chacham of genuine distinction, but his spiritual formation was shaped by a singular relationship: he was a devoted talmid and supporter of Rav Yisrael Lipkin of Salant, the founder of the Mussar movement.
The beis hamussar—the house of ethical self-improvement that was the hallmark of Rav Yisrael Salanter’s revolutionary approach to Jewish spiritual life—was located in Rav Shraga Feivel’s own home. He used his wealth to assist the nascent Mussar movement by supporting the Slabodka Yeshiva and other Mussar-linked institutions.
He was described as a “tippus mufla”—a wondrous exemplar—of “rachim u’mokir rabanan,” one who loved and honored Torah scholars. Rav Yisrael Salanter himself testified to the halachic acumen of Rav Shraga Feivel, noting that he was not merely a baal tzedakah but a genuine talmid chacham whose understanding of Torah law was both broad and deep.
Rav Chaim Zeitz’ik wrote about what it was like to learn under the patronage of this remarkable man: “They had, through Rav Shraga Feivel, access to the greatest teachers. He supported the yeshiva of Rav Yisrael Salanter and all of its affiliated institutions. In the beis midrash that he funded, the sound of Torah never ceased—morning, afternoon, and evening, the voices of learners rose and fell like the tides of the sea.”
The Frank Estate: A Palace of Torah
The bridge from Kovno crossed over the Nieman and continued along the banks of the great river toward Aleksot. After the bridge, the road forked—one path led directly to the Aleksot neighborhood while the other turned toward the Frank estate. The property was magnificent. Set upon the green hills that characterize Aleksot’s terrain, it commanded a view that seemed to encompass the whole of Jewish Kovno.
The house itself was built on two levels. On the first floor was a spacious reception hall, behind which lay the guest quarters. On the second floor were additional rooms that served as a gathering place for the many distinguished visitors who frequented the estate. The first floor also housed the private synagogue of Rav Raphael, Rav Shraga Feivel’s son and firstborn. On the second floor, there were yet more chambers that had once echoed with the voices of some of the greatest Torah scholars of the age.
From time to time, the gedolei haTorah would visit, including Rav Yisrael of Salant and his talmidim, and the Alter of Slabodka, Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel. In this house, the lines between the sacred and the secular dissolved. Every meal was a seudas mitzvah. Every conversation was a shiur. Every guest was treated as if he carried the Shechinah upon his shoulders.
The Open Door: Hachnasas Orchim as a Way of Life
Rav Shraga Feivel was driven by an inner imperative to care for his guests. From his very nature—he was drawn to chesed. He personally oversaw the mitzvos of hachnasas orchim, and when guests arrived at his home, they were greeted not by servants but by the master of the house himself. He would tell his household: “I don’t want our guests to merely have a place to sleep. They should feel honored.” He would personally ensure their comfort, sometimes staying up late to make certain that every detail was attended to—the bedding fresh, the food warm, the atmosphere welcoming.
He was a man who understood the teaching that when one receives a guest, it is as if one has received the Shechinah itself. For him, hachnasas orchim was not a mitzvah to be delegated. It was a personal encounter with the Divine.
A Bold Move: Teaching the Russian Language
One of the most remarkable initiatives of Rav Shraga Feivel’s life was his decision to hire a tutor to teach his children the Russian language. In an era when many in the Orthodox community viewed secular education with deep suspicion—and when the Haskalah movement was using secular learning as a wedge to draw Jews away from Torah observance—this was a courageous act. But Rav Shraga Feivel understood the practical realities of Jewish life under the Tsar. Navigating the labyrinth of imperial bureaucracy, commerce, and civic life required fluency in the language of the country. His children grew up fluent in both the language of their ancestors and the language of their country, equipped to serve both God and community in the fullest sense.
Never Embarrass the Recipient: The Art of Giving
Perhaps the most beautiful aspect of Rav Shraga Feivel’s tzedakah was his extraordinary sensitivity to the dignity of the recipients. He understood the Rambam’s teaching that the highest form of charity is one in which the giver does not know the identity of the recipient and the recipient does not know the identity of the giver. When he learned that a family was in need, he would arrange for the assistance to arrive in a way that preserved their honor completely. Money would appear mysteriously. Debts would be paid without explanation. A merchant would suddenly find his credit restored, never knowing that it was the hand of Rav Shraga Feivel that had reached into the darkness to bring light.
Once, while traveling by wagon, Rav Shraga Feivel noticed that the driver seemed troubled. After gentle inquiry, the man revealed that he was deeply in debt—he owed twenty rubles and five kopikos, a crushing sum for a simple wagoner. Rav Shraga Feivel discreetly pressed the exact amount into the man’s hand, wrapping the money in a cloth so that the driver would not be embarrassed by the sight of coins being handed to him in charity. When the driver tried to refuse, Rav Shraga Feivel told him: “This is not from me. This is from the One who sends sustenance to all His creatures. I am merely the messenger.”
The Offer He Refused
Rav Shraga Feivel was once offered the opportunity to become a director of a major company in Finland. Had he accepted, he would have become one of the great millionaires of the country. But Rav Shraga Feivel declined. To his family, he explained: “Money I have, Baruch Hashem. I am wealthy. But according to my current situation, I am able to direct my four daughters as I see fit, according to my understanding and my values. If I accept this position, I will become one of the wealthiest men in the country—and then I am no longer certain that I will be able to raise my daughters according to my wishes. The wealth will bring its own pressures, its own expectations, its own dangers.”
This was a man who understood what so many wealthy people fail to grasp: that money is a tool, not a master.
A Prayer That Was Answered
It was known that Rav Shraga Feivel had a custom of saying a special tefillah that his children should not become excessively wealthy. He davened that they should have enough—enough to live with dignity, enough to give generously, enough to support Torah—but not so much that wealth would become a snare for their souls.
A member of the Kotler family recalled this tradition: “My grandmother, alehah hashalom, used to always tell us about her grandfather, the famous Rav Shraga Feivel Frank. He had a great big business in Kovno. He was considered from the prominent gevirim of Kovno. He was a baal achsanya of Rav Yisroel Salanter in Kovno. The bais hamussar was in his house. But it was in his tzavaah that his daughters should marry talmidei chachamim muflagim… and he was mispallel that besides that, no wealth should remain.” And indeed, this prayer was fulfilled. His descendants lived lives of Torah rather than of material accumulation.
A Champion of the Common People
The story of Rav Shraga Feivel and the merchants of Kovno reveals the depth of his commitment to justice alongside charity. During a period of economic crisis, as the cost of basic necessities soared, merchants began raising their prices to levels that the common people could not afford. Rav Shraga Feivel called the merchants together and spoke to them with a directness that left no room for misunderstanding. “You will lower your prices,” he told them. “You will take the cost of the goods and add only a fair margin. And you will do this not because I am asking you, but because the Torah demands it.”
But Rav Shraga Feivel did not stop at words. He personally subsidized the difference between what the merchants needed to survive and what the people could afford to pay. He became, in effect, a one-man social safety net—covering the gap between need and capacity with his own resources.
A Joy That Transformed a City
The gaon Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel related that when he visited the home of Rav Shraga Feivel Frank on the occasion of a simchah, the joy that filled the house was palpable. Rav Shraga Feivel’s simchos were never private affairs. They were communal events in which the entire kehillah participated. The poor came alongside the wealthy. The talmidei chachamim sat beside the baalei batim. And at the center of it all was Rav Shraga Feivel himself, his face radiant with a joy that came not from his own celebration but from the knowledge that he was bringing happiness to others.
At one such gathering, Rav Shraga Feivel was observed dancing with an abandon that seemed out of character for a man of his dignity. When asked about it, he replied simply: “When a Yid rejoices at a simchah shel mitzvah, the Shechinah itself dances with him. How can I remain still?”
Father and Brother: The Two Tzvi Pesach Franks
In addition to his four daughters, Rav Shraga Feivel had two sons: Raphael, his firstborn, and Tzvi Pesach, named after Rav Shraga Feivel’s own father, Tzvi Pesach Hirsh Frank. Rav Shraga Feivel’s son Tzvi Pesach married a daughter of Rav Aryeh Leib Broida. His mother was Mina (née Torzki).
A word must be said here to avoid a common confusion. Rav Shraga Feivel’s brother, Rav Yehuda Leib Frank, was one of the founders of the settlement of Hadera in Eretz Yisrael, and his son—also named Tzvi Pesach Frank—became the renowned Chief Rabbi of Yerushalayim, the great posek who served as Av Beis Din and Rav of Yerushalayim for decades, authoring the monumental Har Tzvi and Mikra’ei Kodesh. This Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank, the nephew, was born in Kovno in 1873 and emigrated to Eretz Yisrael in 1892. His father-in-law’s brother-in-law was Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld. His son-in-law was Rav Shmuel Rozovsky, the great Rosh Yeshiva of Ponevezh. So there were two Tzvi Pesach Franks in the family—uncle and nephew—both products of the Kovno Torah world that Rav Shraga Feivel had done so much to sustain. Rav Shraga Feivel’s wife’s brother-in-law, Rav Zevulun Barit, served as Av Beis Din of Plungian.
The Twilight of a Tzaddik
Rabbi Chaim Shraga Feivel Frank was born in the year 5603 (1843) and passed away at the tragically young age of forty-three, in 1886. His death left all of Kovno in mourning. The gaon Rav Yitzchak Elchonon Spector, the great Rav of Kovno who had served the community since 1864, was so moved by his passing that he personally participated in the taharah—the ritual preparation of the body for burial—an extraordinary honor that speaks volumes about the esteem in which Rav Shraga Feivel was held.
Rav Shraga Feivel had left instructions that no hespedim be delivered at his funeral. Rav Yitzchak Elchonon stood before the assembled mourners and said: “I would disobey his request—but I am afraid of him.” With that, he sat down. It was, in its way, the most eloquent hesped that could have been delivered—a testament to the awe that this young man had inspired in the gadol hador.
Rav Shraga Feivel’s youngest daughter, Devorah Kramer, recalled this scene decades later, preserving it for posterity. That the memory of his levayah was still vivid to his children after so many years testifies to the profound impression their father had left—a man they barely had time to know, yet whose values shaped every aspect of their lives.
An Eternal Legacy
Today, the physical structures that Rav Shraga Feivel built have long since crumbled. The Aleksot estate was swept away by the tides of two World Wars and Soviet occupation. The Jewish community of Kovno, which numbered over 35,000 on the eve of the Second World War, was nearly annihilated in the Holocaust. The Kovno Ghetto was established in Slobodka in 1941, and the Slabodka Yeshiva—the very institution Rav Shraga Feivel had helped sustain—saw its rabbis and students among the first victims of Nazi brutality.
But the spiritual legacy he created endures beyond anything brick and mortar could contain. His nephew, Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank, became one of the most revered poskim in Jewish history, serving as the Chief Rabbi of Yerushalayim for decades. His son-in-law Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer’s Even HaEzel remains a cornerstone of Torah scholarship. His son-in-law Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein helped bring the Slabodka Yeshiva to Eretz Yisrael, where it continues to flourish as Yeshivas Chevron. And in Lakewood, New Jersey, the institution founded by his great-son-in-law Rav Aharon Kotler now enrolls thousands upon thousands of full-time Torah scholars—a living fulfillment of the deathbed dream of a leather merchant from Aleksot who understood that the only wealth worth accumulating is the wealth of Torah.
Rav Yisrael Salanter himself wrote of his devoted supporter: “I shall never cease to be amazed by the greatness of Rav Feivel Frank, of blessed memory. He was the kind of Jew the world rarely produces—a man whose Torah was matched by his deeds, whose generosity was matched by his humility, and whose vision for the Jewish future was matched by his tireless effort to make that vision real.”
That vision—of a Jewish world sustained by Torah, nourished by chesed, and guided by the uncompromising belief that spiritual wealth matters more than material fortune—is alive today in every beis midrash from Lakewood to Yerushalayim. It is the legacy of Rav Chaim Shraga Feivel Frank.
The author can be reached at yairhoffman2@gmail.com
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
