Detailed
Description |
|
Letter by R. Moses Isaac b. Naphtali Elimelekh Gewircman (1882-1977), Admor of Przeworsk. He was born in Przeworsk, near Gorlice, and was popularly known as R. Itzikel or the rabbi of Przeworsk. He was a descendant of R. Elimelekh of Lejansk. When R. Abraham Hayyim of Plantsh (father-in-law of R. Joel of Satmar) saw R. Itzikel in Sianiawa, he stated that "the Shekhinah accompanies this young man." He was a disciple of R. Moses Apter of Tarnov and of R. Simhah Issachar Baer of Cieszanov (d. 1914) and R. Honah Halberstam of Kalaszyce. He was also a follower of R. Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar, to whose anti-Zionist ideology he subscribed. In Nisan 1899 he married Rachel, the daughter of R. Yissachar Dov HaKohen Glantz of Sianiawa, known as R. Berele Glantz. During World War One, when Sianiawa was ravaged, he lived in Przeworsk near Lvov, where he prayed in the Bet HaMidrash of the hasidim of Cieszanov and became rebbe there.
During the Second World War he stayed for seven months in Holitch, and then in Talamenko in Siberia. He was bereaved of his only son, Joseph Hayyim, and two daughters, Miriam Hannah and Beilah.
After the war he returned for a while to Poland, living in Breslau and Cracow, and then moved to Paris in 1949, where he stayed until 20 Adar 1957, when, on the advice of the rabbi of Belz, he moved to Antwerp and established a Bet HaMidrash at Mercator Street 56. He became the undisputed rebbe of postwar Europe with many people thronging to him for advice and practical assistance. He was known as a "heiliger Yid," a holy Jew. He was buried in the Mahzikei Hadat cemetery in Holland. |
