The Great Rabbi's

Great Rabbi’s ©Erlinda Cruz 2009

Yisrael Alter, Alter (12 October 1895 – 20 February 1977), also known as the Beis Yisroel after the works he authored, was the fourth Rebbe of the Hasidic dynasty of Ger, a position he held from 1948 until 1977. He escaped from Poland during the Holocaust and settled in Palestine during 1940. In 1945 he learnt that the Nazi regime had murdered his wife, daughter, son and grandchildren. He remarried but had no children.

Rabbi Yisroel (Israel) ben Eliezer August 27, 1698 (18 Elul) – May 22, 1760), Often called Baal Shem Tov or Besht, Besht was a Jewish mystical rabbi. He is considered to be the founder of Hasidic Judaism (see also Mezhbizh Hasidic dynasty). Besht was born to Eliezer and Sara in Okopy (Ukrainian: Окопи) a small village that over the centuries has been part of Poland, Russia, and is now part of Ukraine, (located in the Borshchivskyi Raion (district) of the Ternopil Oblast). He died in Medzhybizh, which had once been part of Lithuania, then Turkey, Poland and Russia, and is also now in Ukraine, in the Khmelnytskyi Oblast.

Rabbi Yisrael Abuhatzeira known as the Baba Sali (1890-1984) was a leading Moroccan rabbi and kabbalist who was renowned for his ability to work miracles through [1] his prayers. He was one of the leaders of the Aliyah of Moroccan Jewry to Israel, which saw the transfer of nearly the entire population of that community to the Holy Land. His burial place in Netivot, Israel has become a shrine for prayers and petitioners.

Rabbi Avrohom Yeshaya Karelitz, Karelitz (1878-1953), popularly known by the name of his magnum opus Chazon Ish, Ish was a Belarusian born Orthodox rabbi who became leader of Haredi Judaism in Israel, where his final 20 years, from 1933 to 1953, were spent.

Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai (Chida) (1724--1806) (1724 Chida was one of the most fascinating and multi-faceted figures in Jewish history. Born in Jerusalem, he became a scholar of the first rank and wrote classic works in halacha such as Shaar Yosef, Birkei Yosef and

Machzik Beracha. He was associated with the kabbalist R. Shalom Sharabi and studied under R. Chaim Ibn Attar. He was interested and absorbed by all that he saw and heard in the many places that he traveled and was curious to learn about the new and exotic. He was careful not to insult anyone and to avoid controversy.

Abraham Isaac Kook (1865–1935) was the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of the British Mandate for Palestine, the founder of the Religious Zionist Yeshiva Merkaz HaRav, Jewish thinker, Halachist, Kabbalist and a renowned Torah scholar. He is known in Hebrew as HaRav Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, and by the acronym HaRaAYaH or simply as "HaRav." He was one of the most celebrated and influential Rabbis of the 20th century.

Menachem Mendel Schneerson (April 5, 1902 – June 12, 1994) known as The Rebbe, Rebbe was a prominent Hasidic rabbi who was the seventh and last Rebbe (spiritual leader) of the Chabad Lubavitch movement. He was fifth in a direct paternal line to the third Chabad Lubavitch Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn. In 1950, upon the death of his father-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, he assumed the leadership of Chabad Lubavitch. He led the movement until his death in 1994, greatly expanding its worldwide activities and founding a network of institutions (as of 2006, in

70 countries) to spread Orthodox Judaism among the Jewish people, with the stated goal of "Jewish unity".

Rabbi Elijah ben Shlomo Zalman, Zalman (April 23, 1720, October 9, 1797) known as the Vilna Gaon or Elijah of Vilna and simply by his Hebrew acronym Gra ("G Gaon Rabbi Eliyahu"), [2], was an exceptional Talmudist, Halachist, Kabbalist, and the foremost leader of non-hasidic world Jewry of the past few centuries. He is commonly referred to in Hebrew as ha'Gaon ha'Chasid mi'Vilna, "the saintly genius from Vilnius."

Yosef Chaim (1 September 1832 – 30 August 1909) was a leading Hakham (Sephardic Rabbi), authority on Jewish law (Halakha) and Master Kabbalist. He is best known as author of the work on Halakha Ben Ish Chai ("Son of Man (who) Lives"), by which title he is also known.

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef Yosef (born Abdullah Youssef, 1920 Basra, Iraq) is a Mizrahi Haredi rabbi, Talmudic scholar, and recognized halakhic authority. He is the former Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, although he himself is Iraqi, not Sephardi. Yosef is also the current spiritual leader of the Shas political party in the Israeli Knesset. He is highly revered in the religious world, especially in the Sephardi and Mizrahi communities, for his erudition and Torah scholarship. He is among the most important poskim of the past few generations and is regarded by many as the foremost Rabbinical authority and a source of Da'at Torah. He has been referred to as the Posek HaDor ("Posek of the present

Generation"), Gadol HaDor ("great/est (one of) the generation"), Maor Yisrael ("The Light of Israel") and Maran.

Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky, Kanievsky known as The Steipler Steipler or The Steipler Gaon

(1899–1985) was a rabbi, Talmudic scholar, and posek ("decisor" of Jewish law). He was born in the Ukrainian town of Horensteipl, from which his appellation, "the Steipler", was later derived. He was the son of Chaim Peretz, who was a Chernobyl Chassid and the local shochet. Around the age of 11, Kanievsky entered the Novardok yeshiva, studying under its famed dean, Rabbi Yosef Yoizel Horowitz.

Rabbi Aryeh Levin (March 22, 1885 March 28, 1969), known as Reb Aryeh, Aryeh was an Orthodox rabbi dubbed the "Father of Prisoners" for his visits to members of the Jewish underground imprisoned in the Central Prison of Jerusalem in the Russian Compound during the British Mandate. He was also known as the "Tzadik ("saint") of Jerusalem" for his work on behalf of the poor and the sick.

Chaim Hezekiah Medini (born 7 Cheshvan 5593 (1833), Jerusalem – died 24 Kislev 1904, Hebron), also known as the Sede Chemed the title of his chief halakhic work - was a rabbinical scholar during the nineteenth century. His name was originally Chizkiyahu, Chaim was added during a period of serious illness. This led to his initials spelling Chacham, appropriately a play on words that also means a sage, although spelled differently it was pronounced similarly.

Moses Maimonides, Maimonides also known as Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon or the acronym the Rambam was born in Cordoba, Spain on March 30, 1135, and died in Egypt on December 13, 1204. One of the greatest Torah scholars of all time, he was a rabbi, physician, and philosopher in Spain, Morocco and Egypt during the Middle Ages. He was the preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher.

Rabbi Elazar Menachem Man Shach (or Rav Leizer Shach) Shach (January 22, 1898 November 2, 2001) Was a leading Eastern Europeanborn and educated Haredi rabbi who settled and lived in modern Israel. He was the rosh yeshiva ("dean") of the Ponevezh yeshiva in Bnei Brak the preeminent yeshiva of Lithuanian Jewry, and founded the Degel HaTorah political party representing Lithuanian Ashkenazi Jews in the Israeli Knesset, many of whom considered him to be the Gadol HaDor ("great one of the generation") and used the honorific Maran ("[our] master") when referring to him.

He was recognized as a Talmudic scholar par excellence by scholars such as Rabbi Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik (the Brisker Rav) and Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer in their approbations to his works; he authored the Avi Ezri a commentary on the Mishneh Torah.

Sar Shalom Sharabi also known as the Rashash (Jewish Sharab, Yemen 1720 Jerusalem 1777/(10 shevat 5537)) Was a Yemenite Rabbi, Halachist, Chazzan and Kabbalist. In later life he became the Rosh Yeshiva of Bet El Yeshiva. He was one of the Jewish world's foremost masters of Kabbalah, Torah, Talmud and Halacha in the 18th Century, and one of the first Yemenite Jews to have a major influence on the wider Jewish world. He is now considered to rank among the Acharonim, to be the direct successor to the Ari and one of the most important Oriental Rabbis in history.

Jacob ben Meir Tam, Tam universally known as Rabbenu Tam (c. 1100–c. 1171) Was one of the Baalei Tosafot whose commentary appears in every edition of Talmud opposite the commentary of Rashi. He was also a renowned Rabbinic authority and communal leader.

Moshe Feinstein (March 3, 1895– March 23, 1986) was a Lithuanian Orthodox rabbi, scholar and posek (an authoritative adjudicator of questions related to Jewish law), who was worldrenowned for his expertise in Halakha and was regarded by many as the de facto supreme rabbinic authority for Orthodox Jewry of North America. In the Orthodox world, it is universal to refer to him simply as "Rav Moshe" or "Reb Moshe."

Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman (1886-1969) was an Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva of the Ponevezh yeshiva. He was a renowned Torah and Talmudic scholar. Rabbi Kahaneman was born in Kuhl, Lithuania, a small town of about 500 of which about a third were Jews. At the age of 14 he went to study Talmud at the Telshe yeshiva, where he studied Torah until he was twenty, under the direct inspiration of Rabbi Eliezer Gordon, who saw his potential. Another mentor of his in Telshe at the time was Rabbi Shimon Shkop. He then spent a half year in Novardok yeshiva, after which he

spent three years in Raduń Yeshiva studying under the tutelage of the Chofetz Chaim and Rabbi Naftoli Trop. He married the daughter of the rabbi of Vidzh, and became rabbi there at the end of 1911, when his fatherin-law became the rabbi of Vilkomir (Ukmergė).

Joseph ben Ephraim Karo, Karo also spelled Caro, or Qaro, (Toledo, 1488 – Safed, 1575) was author of the last great codification of Jewish law, the Shulchan Aruch, which is still authoritative for all Jews pertaining to their respective communities. To this end he is often referred to as haha-Mechaber (Hebrew: "The Author") and as Maran (Aramaic: "Our Master")

Shneur Zalman of Liadi (September 4, 1745 – December 15, 1812 O.S.), was an Orthodox Rabbi, and the founder and first Rebbe of Chabad, a branch of Hasidic Judaism, then based in Liadi, Imperial Russia. He was the author of many works, and is best known for

Shulchan Aruch HaRav, Tanya and his Siddur Torah Or compiled according to the Nusach Ari. He is also known as Shneur Zalman Baruchovitch, Reb Shneur Zalman, RaZaSh, Baal HaTanya vehaShulchan Aruch, Aruch the Alter Rebbe ("Old Rebbe" in Yiddish), Admor HaZaken ("Old

Rebbe" in Hebrew), Rabbeinu HaZokein, HaZokein Rabbeinu HaGodol, HaGodol the GRaZ or The The Rav. Rav

Great Rabbi’s ©Erlinda Cruz 2009

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