Name Yaakov Kamenetsky Role Rabbi | Children Shmuel Kamenetsky | |
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Buried Mount Judah Cemetery, Queens, New York, March 10, 1986 Died March 10, 1986, Balti, Maryland, United States | ||
Reb Moshe Feinstein Ztl with Reb Yaakov Kamenetsky Ztl in Camp Ohr Shraga 1969 -
Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky (February 28, 1891 – March 10, 1986), was a prominent rosh yeshiva, posek and Talmudist in the post-World War II American Jewish community.
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He was born in the hamlet of Kalushkove, Lithuania, in 1891. Shortly afterwards his family moved to the village of Dolhinov where he grew up. He studied in Minsk and then for 21 years in Slabodka yeshiva under Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel. It was there that he met his lifelong friend Rabbi Aharon Kotler, who later founded the Lakewood yeshiva. His younger cousin, Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak Ruderman, also grew up in Dolhinov.
Rabbi Kamenetsky was appointed rabbi of Tzitavyan in 1926 and moved to North America in 1937, where he initially took rabbinical positions in Seattle and then Toronto. From 1948 to 1968 he headed Mesivta Torah Vodaath in Brooklyn, New York. Along with Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, he led American Jewry in issues of halachic and spiritual guidance until 1986, when both men died.
Rabbi Kamenetsky was renowned as "Chakima D'Yehudai", the wise man of the Jews. Aside from his extensive Torah scholarship, he was known for his ever-present warm smile and his expertise in Hebrew grammar.
Family
Rabbi Kamenetsky's first wife was Rebbetzin Ita Ettil Kamenetsky, who died on July 9, 1954. In 1958, Rabbi Kamenetsky married Chana Urman of Toronto. The mesader kidushin for Rabbi Kamenetsky's marriage to Rebbetzin Chana Kamenetsky was his close friend and colleague, Rabbi Zelik Epstein. Rebbetzin Chana Kamenetsky died shortly after her husband in 1986.
Rabbi Kamenetsky's son, Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky heads the Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia, chairs the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah. His other sons are: Rabbis Binyamin (1923–2017), founder of the Yeshiva of South Shore in Long Island, NY, Nathan Kamenetsky and the late Avraham(1930–2013). His oldest daughter, Malka (1921–2013), was married to the late Rabbi Yisrael Shurin (d. 2007). A second daughter, Rivka, was married to the late Rabbi Hirsch Diskind(1922–2013), the long-time Dean of Bais Yaakov of Baltimore.).
Dozens of his descendants serve in key leadership positions across North America in other countries. They include: Rabbis Mordechai Kamenetzky, Dean of the Yeshiva of South Shore, Shalom Kamenetsky, Rosh Yeshivas Philadelphia, Avraham Kamenetsky, R"M in Yeshivas Beis Yisrael in Jerusalem, Yosef Kamenetsky, Rosh Kollel in Moscow, Zvi Kamenetzky, Dean of the Dwek Ohr HaEmet Sephardic Academy of Toronto, and Yitzchak Shurin, Dean of Midreshet Rachel-Shappell's. His grandson Dov Shurin is a singer-songwriter and musician.
Works
Rabbi Kamenetsky also left over many manuscripts that are being converted into book form by various descendants.