"There is no need to describe the distress … of thousands of our brothers in the lands of Russia who are moaning and groaning …because of hunger and thirst and total lack of everything. And it is the obligation of brothers to feel the pain of their brothers who are in trouble and in captivity, and to help in any way possible to ease their daily hardships. And therefore I am joining my hand with the announcement that requests help …and to donate with a wide open hand, each man according to what he is able…and on this Parshat Zachor to remember the lot of our brothers in Russia and to help them…."

Signed: Yosef Tzvi Duschinsky

R. Joseph Zevi b. Israel Duschinsky (1868–1948), Hungarian rabbi, and later rabbi of the Orthodox community of Jerusalem. R. Duschinsky was born in Paks, Hungary, where his father was the sofer ("scribe"). He studied first under R. Moses Pollak, rabbi of Paks, and later under R. Simhah Bunim Sofer (Schreiber, the Shevet Sofer) in Pressburg. In 1892 he married the only daughter of R. Mordecai Leib Winkler of Brezovanad Bradlom (Slovakia) and spent the next three years in his house. The years spent at Pressburg and his father-in-law's fine personality were the main formative influences in his life. In 1895 he was elected rabbi to a congregation in Galanta established in opposition to the existing one; and in 1921 went to Khust (Carpatho-Ruthenia). In 1932 he visited Palestine and on the death of R. Joseph Hayyim Sonnenfeld was elected in 1933 to succeed him as rabbi of the Edah Haredit ("Orthodox Community") of Jerusalem. He founded a yeshivah, Bet Yosef, which had hundreds of pupils. R. Duschinsky, an active supporter of Agudat Israel, appeared before various commissions of inquiry of the British mandatory government, and although he did not normally cooperate with the official rabbinate, during the siege of Jerusalem in 1948 he endorsed their permission to undertake defense and fortification work on the Sabbath. Duschinsky was a discerning bibliophile of refined taste and amassed a fine library of rare books. None of his own works was published in his lifetime. From his literary legacy two volumes of responsa: She'elot u-Teshuvot Mahariz (pt. 1, 1956; pt. 2, 1966), and three volumes of his homiletic commentary to the Bible (pt. 1, 1956; pt. 2, 1961; and pt. 3, 1965) have been published. His responsa in particular reflect his immense learning and wide range of reading. He died during the siege of Jerusalem. His yeshivah continued to function under the direction of his only son, R. Moses Israel.