He became rabbi in Dabrowice in 1911 but was always known as the "rebbe of Brzezany." He was very active in the Agudah, and lead the regional Rabbinical Association. He was in charge of eight neighboring communities.

In the Second World War, he advised the Jews to join the partisans. He, his wife, his son R. Yitzhak, his son's wife, Bathsheva, and their three children were shot by the Nazis together with a group of 16,000 Jews. The Nazis ordered him to remove his talit katan - he refused and was hit by the murderers until his blood flowed over the bodies of the 16,000 victims.