Chaim Yehuda Leib Auerbach

Chaim Yehuda Leib Auerbach (1883 –26 September 1954 [28 Elul 5714]) was one of the founders and first roshei yeshiva of Shaar Hashamayim Yeshiva, a landmark Jerusalem institution specializing in Talmudic and kabbalah studies for Ashkenazi scholars. Known for his great love and personal sacrifice for Torah and Torah scholars, Auerbach raised sons who also became great scholars — including his oldest son, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, a leading posek of the mid- to late-twentieth century — and married his daughters to Torah scholars — including Rabbi Sholom Schwadron, known as the "Maggid of Jerusalem".

Biography

Auerbach descended from an illustrious line of Hasidic leaders. His father was Rabbi Meir Auerbach, first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Jerusalem. Of his fathers direct lineage he was a descendant of Rabbi Avraham Dov Auerbach (I), the Admor of Chernowitz-Chmielnik, Poland who was a son-in-law of Rabbi Jacob Joseph of Polonne, the Baal Shem Tov's most prominent disciple and author of Toldos Yaakov Yosef on Hasidic thought.

Auerbach married Tzivia, the daughter of Jerusalem community leader Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Porush, who listed among his accomplishments the founding of the neighborhood of Shaarei Chesed and the creation of the Shaarei Chesed Free-Loan Fund, which he directed on a voluntary basis for 18 years.

Poverty and love of Torah

Like other Jerusalem families in the post-World War I Yishuv, the Auerbachs lived in dire poverty. Their home in the Nachalas Tzadok neighborhood of Jerusalem (adjacent to Shaarei Chesed) lacked a refrigerator and an icebox; instead, food for Shabbat was kept in a box tied to a rope, which was lowered into the well outdoors to keep cold. Their son, Shlomo Zalman, once remarked, "In my youth, I never felt full." His brother, Rabbi Avraham Dovid Auerbach (II), said, "In our home, I never once ate a whole egg. My mother would scramble an egg with a bit of flour and divide it among three children. A whole egg? Who ever heard of such a thing?"

Though consigned to poverty, Auerbach and his wife valued Torah and Torah scholars above all else. To that end, they sought only serious Torah scholars for their daughters rather than men of means or reputation. They also were willing to sacrifice all to feed and support the hundreds of young men learning at Shaar Hashamayim Yeshiva. Often Auerbach pledged his own family's belongings, including the furniture, as security against loans which he took for the upkeep of the yeshiva students.

Auerbach was also given to holy ways. Often he wore sackcloth under his clothing to mortify his flesh, in the way of hidden tzaddikim. He would retire early in the evening and then rise before midnight, learning until dawn. Then he would recite the Shema and go to bed again until it was time for the morning prayers. Some of his neighbors criticized his penchant for "going to bed early and getting up late," not realizing that while they slept, he was learning Torah.

Collecting sefarim (holy books) was also one of Auerbach's passions. Though sefarim in the 1920s were extremely expensive, Auerbach nevertheless managed to build up a large library of his own. He did so primarily in the period between World Wars, when Palestine was ravaged by famine and people sold off their sefarim by the wagonload to buy bread. Living on a bare minimum, Auerbach managed to purchase many sefarim in this way.

Auerbach himself wrote a Torah commentary called Chacham Lev.

Rosh yeshiva

The idea of founding Shaar Hashamayim Yeshiva came to Auerbach one night in a dream. He awoke from the strange dream and tried to fall asleep again, only to dream the same thing a second time. He decided to get dressed and go out to consult with his friend, Rabbi Shimon Tzvi Horowitz, about the strange vision. As he walked toward Rabbi Horowitz's home, he was surprised to see Rabbi Horowitz walking toward him. It turned out that Rabbi Horowitz was coming to see him about his dream – which was one and the same!

They had each envisioned an elderly man, his face shining with an otherworldly light, who had forcefully requested them to teach his Torah in Jerusalem. "My Torah has the power to bring the Divine Presence back from its exile," the man had said. Rabbi Horowitz determined that the man in the dream was Rabbi Isaac Luria (known as the "Arizal"), the sixteenth-century mystic of Safed who was known to have regretted the fact that his Torah was not widely studied among Jerusalem's Ashkenazi population. At that time, the only place where the Arizal's kabbalah was studied was the Beit El Synagogue in Jerusalem, which had produced such great Sephardi kabbalists as Rabbi Shalom Sharabi ("the Rashash") and Rabbi Yedidiah Abulafia.

On the spot, Rabbis Auerbach and Horowitz decided to open a yeshiva for the study of the Arizal's kabbalah. The yeshiva opened shortly afterwards with accommodations for a Talmud Torah, a yeshiva ketana, a yeshiva gedola and a kollel for married students.

Auerbach served as rosh yeshiva of Shaar Hashamayim Yeshiva from 1906 until his passing in 1954. When his father, the Admor of Chernowitz-Chmielnik, died, his father's Hasidim asked him to become their Rebbe. But Auerbach opted to stay on as rosh yeshiva of Shaar Hashamayim, leaving the position of Admor unfilled.

Leadership of the yeshiva has remained in the Auerbach family up to the present day. After Auerbach's passing, his son, Eliezer Auerbach, served as rosh yeshiva for many years. After Rabbi Eliezer's passing, another of Rabbi Auerbach's sons, Rabbi Refoel Dovid Auerbach, assumed leadership. Today, Shaar Hashamayim Yeshiva is headed by Rabbi Fishel Eisenbach, Rabbi Yaakov Meir Shechter, and Rabbi Gamliel Rabinowitz.

Auerbach's son, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman, served as president of the yeshiva; after his passing, his son, Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach, succeeded him. Rabbi Shlomo Zalman's nephew, Rabbi Yechezkel Schlaff of London, serves as yeshiva administrator.

References

• "A Century Since the Founding of Yeshivas Shaar HaShamayim, 5666-5766"
• Lazewnik, Libby (2000). Voice of Truth: The life and eloquence of Rabbi Sholom Schwadron, the unforgettable Maggid of Jerusalem. Adapted from the Hebrew, Kol Chotzeiv. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications.
• Rossof, Dovid (1998). Where Heaven Touches Earth: Jewish life in Jerusalem from medieval times to the present. Jerusalem: Guardian Press.
• Schwartz, Rabbi Yoel (1996). The Man of Truth and Peace: Rabbenu Shlomo Zalman Auerbach. Jerusalem: Kest-Lebovits Jewish Heritage and Roots Library.

Persondata
Name	Auerbach, Chaim Yehuda Leib
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Date of birth	1883
Place of birth
Date of death	1954
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