- Shemaryahu Gurary
Rabbi Shemaryahu Gurary, also known by his Hebrew initials as The "Rashag", (1898-1989) was an Orthodox
rabbi belonging to theChabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement. His father was Rabbi Menachem Mendel Gurary. He was the son-in-law of RabbiYosef Yitzchok Schneersohn (1880- 1950), known as "Rebbe Rayatz", the sixthRebbe of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement. He married Chana Gurary, the older daughter of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok, and was thus the brother-in-law of RabbiMenachem Mendel Schneerson , the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe (whose wifeChaya Mushka Schneerson was also the daughter of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok). He worked with his father-in-law in communal service in bothRussia andPoland and then arrived in theU.S. in 1940, where he continued this work until his death.Character
Rabbi Gurary had a comprehensive knowledge of
Chassidic philosophy and was a devoted follower of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. [Yosef Yitzchok Kaminetzki, "Days of Chabad", Kehot 2002, p. 139]Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn wrote very highly of Rabbi Gurary: [Letter dated 5 Tammuz, 5695 (1935)]
Activities
In 1931, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn planned to expand the network of Chabad
Yeshiva s, known asTomchei Temimim , inVohlin ,Ukraine . Rabbi Gurary travelled to investigate the yeshivas in various cities in Vohlin, and to found new yeshivas.Rabbi Gurary was the director of Tomchei Temimim in
Warsaw . He was responsible for deliveringTalmud ic lectures and hiring other rabbis. As head of the Yeshiva, he was close to the Schneersohn and many of the latter's letters were addressed to him.Fact|date=March 2007 He was responsible for bringing quality Lithuanian Roshei Yeshiva to Tomchei Temimim in Brooklyn such as Rav Yisroel Zev Gustman.Fact|date=March 2007He remained on the board of
Kehot Publication Society his whole life. From the 1920s until the death of Schneersohn, he was the right hand man of the Rebbe Rayatz, traveling with him and carrying out his projects.Fact|date=March 2007.Fact|date=April 2007 Upon the death of his father-in-law in 1950, he was considered to be a possible candidate to succeed him. Indeed, he shared the leadership for a year, but he finally ceded his position to Rabbi Menachem Mendel after being sidelined. Fact|date=March 2007
He dedicated himself to fundraising to support the central Lubavitch Yeshiva of which he was director and did a lot of traveling.Fact|date=March 2007 In this capacity he traveled to Brazil and elsewhere in South America.
He is buried near the gravesite of his father-in-law.
Controversies surrounding his son
Barry Gurary (Sholom Dovber Gurary) (b. inRostov-on-Don ,Russia November 2 1923 , d.Montclair, New Jersey ,United States March 3 2005 ) was the only son of Rabbi Shemaryahu Gurary andRebbetzin Chana Gurary, the elder daughter of RabbiYosef Yitzchok Schneersohn . Barry Gurary was an ordained non-practicing Orthodoxrabbi andphysicist . He became the focus of disputes as an estranged relative to theChabad-Lubavitch Hasidic dynasty.External links
* [http://www.chabad.org/search/keyword.asp?kid=8938&scope=6198 Passing of the Rashag]
* [http://www.shmais.com/pages.cfm?page=archivenewsdetail&ID=22544 Rashag’s Legacy Worth Half a Million]
* [http://chabadtalk.com/forum/showpost.php?p=21222&postcount=1 Stories from Chabadtalk]Footnotes
References
*Avrum M. Ehrlich, "Messiah of Brooklyn: Understanding Lubavitch Hasidism Past and Present"
*Avrum M. Ehrlich, "Leadership in the HaBaD Movement"
*Shaul Shimon Deutsch, "Larger than Life"
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