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Responsa by R. Ephraim b. Abraham Baruch Greenblatt (1932-2014), noted rabbi and decisor. As a child, he attended Talmud Torah Yavneh, and later yeshivah ketanah Mekor Chaim, where he studied under R. Avraham David Levin and R. Tikochinsky. He then attended Yeshivas Tiferes Tzvi under R. Tzvi Yehudah Meltzer, the son of R. Isser Zalman Meltzer, and Yeshivas Kletzk in Rechovot, under R. Elazar Shach. At the age of 19, he began serving as a Rav in a shul in New York. Concurrently, he began learning in Mesivtha Tiferes Jerusalem, headed by R. Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, who became R. Ephraim’s rebbi muvhak.

One day in 5712/1952, Reb Moshe told Reb Ephraim that he wanted him to travel to Memphis, Tennessee. He’d received a phone call from a Jew who lived there asking Reb Moshe to send a bachur to shore up the community there. “For some reason, Reb Moshe felt I was suited for the task. He suggested I travel there to visit the place and meet the community, and then I could decide if the job was for me or not.” After traveling over 30 hours by train, Rav Greenblatt discovered that there were only two other Shomrei Shabbos in Memphis. He promptly returned to N.Y. When Rav Greenblatt told Reb Moshe that Memphis was a desolate place, Reb Moshe told him he’d sent him there to infuse the Jews with Yiddishkeit and help the community grow and sent him back. Memphis was where Rav Greenblatt remained for the next half a century.

Over the years, he maintained close contact with Reb Moshe, who guided him every step of the way on communal matters. R. Ephraim would consult Reb Moshe in all areas of halachah, via long, detailed correspondence, to iron out details of the halachos. While in Memphis, R. Ephraim published his renowned sefer Rivevos Ephraim, which includes nine volumes of she’eilos and teshuvos; there is one volume that never saw publication. The sefarim are a compilation of thousands of responsa to questions that he received from Rabbanim all over the U.S., as well as teshuvos to questions that he sent to Reb Moshe. He also published two volumes of Rivevos Ephraim al HaTorah. Harav Greenblatt authored hundreds of essays and responsa that were printed in Torah journals.

In 2002, Rebbetzin Greenblatt was killed in a car accident. In Elul of 5769/2009, he left Memphis and returned to Eretz Yisrael, after over 50 years. He settled in Har Nof, Yerushalayim, where he continued learning and disseminating Torah.

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