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Polish rabbi (1838–1933) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yisrael Meir ha-Kohen Kagan (February 6, 1838 – September 15, 1933) was an influential Lithuanian Jewish rabbi, Halakhist, posek, and ethicist whose works continue to be widely influential in Orthodox Jewish life. He was known popularly as the Chofetz Chaim,[a] after his book on lashon hara, who was also well known for the Mishna Berurah,[b] his book on ritual law.[3][4]
Kagan was born on February 6, 1838 in Dzienciol (Yiddish: זשעטל, romanized: Zhetl), Grodno Governorate in Russian Empire (today Dzyatlava in Belarus), and died on 15 September 1933 in Raduń (Yiddish: ראַדין, romanized: Radin), Nowogródek Voivodeship in Second Polish Republic (now in Belarus). When Kagan was ten years old, his father died in a cholera epidemic at the age of 46.[1] His mother moved the family to Vilnius in order to continue her son's Jewish education. While in Vilnius, Kagan became a student of Jacob Barit. Kagan's mother remarried and moved to Radin, taking the name of her new husband, Poupko, which the young Kagan adopted as well. At 17, he married the daughter of his stepfather, and settled in Radin. Later in life, he would revert his name back to Kagan. This is why there are a number of letters of his extant that he signed as Poupko and others as Kagan. When Kagan arrived in Vilnius, Rav Chaim Nachman Parnas, who had known Kagan's father well, was friendly to him. Reb Yisrael Gordon, a friend of Parnas, took the young Kagan into his home and paid him to learn with Gordon's son, Mordechai.[1]
He served as the town rabbi of Radin for a short period. He then resigned from this position to establish a yeshiva in the city, which eventually became world-famous first being led by the notable Naftoli Trop, followed by the esteemed son-in-law of his rabbi, Mendel Zaks. By all accounts, he was a modest and humble man, faithfully devoted to his Jewish faith. For a while, he had a shop selling household provisions, which he and his wife managed.[5] From 1864 to 1869 he taught Talmud in Minsk and Vashilishok.[6]
In 1869, Kagan formed a yeshiva in Radin. The yeshiva was a success and grew to prominence, later becoming known as "Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim of Radin". In addition to spreading Torah through his yeshiva, Kagan, who became known as "the Chofetz Chaim", was very active in Jewish causes. He traveled extensively to encourage the observance of Mitzvot and Shabbat amongst Jews. He became one of the most influential rabbis within Orthodox Judaism during the late 19th and early 20th century, taking a central leadership role in the World Agudath Israel movement in Eastern Europe. An author of many works of musar literature, he was sometimes associated with the Musar movement,[7] although he did not support all aspects of that movement.[8]
Although the anti-religious attitudes which pervaded Zionism greatly distressed him, Kagan initially refused to become personally involved in the matter and refrained from publicly denouncing the movement. When his views became known, he cautioned his students about joining the Zionists[9] and declared its political aims as being contrary to the Torah.[10][11][12][13] Kagan famously said that it would be preferable to lose a third of the amount of Torah we have throughout the world rather than join the WZO (World Zionist Organization).[14] Elchonon Wasserman (killed in the Holocaust 6 July 1941) said that this means even if the majority of yeshivos would have to close, we would not be allowed to join the WZO.[14] In 1903, his wife Frieda died, and two years later he married the daughter of Hillel of Lapis, Miriam Freida, who was more than thirty years younger than him. It was from this marriage that his son Aharon Kagan and his daughter Feigl Chaya Sacks were born. His son-in-law was Mendel Zaks.
In 1925, it was announced that he would be leaving Warsaw with his daughter and son-in-law to permanently settle in Petach Tikvah (the Gate of Hope, in Hebrew), in Palestine.[15] Upon discovering his plans, prominent rabbis and yeshiva deans persuaded him to remain in Radin[16] and he died there on September 15, 1933, aged 95.[17] He was interred in the nearby cemetery.[18] Miriam Freida arrived in Montreal with her son Aharon via Siberia and Japan in 1942, and died in New York in 1946.
Many other Jewish religious institutions throughout the world also bear his name. One American yeshiva named in his honor is the Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yisrael Meir HaKohen centered in Queens, New York founded by his great nephew, Dovid Leibowitz, with several branches in the United States, Canada, and Israel. Kagan's teachings have inspired some English-speaking American Jews to establish the Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation, dedicated to the dissemination of his teachings to Jewish communities around the world. An Orthodox kibbutz in Israel, Hafetz Haim, was named in his honor.
During his lifetime, Kagan was venerated by Jews and non-Jews alike. Orthodox Jews across the world viewed him as one of the 36 righteous people,[19] and Polish farmers were said to have lured him into their fields believing his feet would bring blessing to their crops.[20]
According to some reports, despite his rabbinic leadership he did not hold semikhah until late in life, when he had to apply for a passport and needed formal semichah in order to honestly enter "rabbi" as his occupation. He then received his semikhah by telegraph from Chaim Ozer Grodzinski of Wilna.[21] According to another report, though, he received semikhah much earlier, at age 17.[22]
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