Yaakov Kamenetsky

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Wikipedia

Rabbi
Yaakov Kamenetsky
Personal life
BornFebruary 28, 1891
Kalushkove, Lithuania
DiedMarch 10, 1986(1986-03-10) (aged 95)
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
BuriedMount Judah Cemetery, Queens, New York
March 10, 1986
Religious life
ReligionJudaism

Yaakov Kamenetsky (February 28, 1891 – March 10, 1986), was a prominent rabbi, rosh yeshiva, posek and Talmudist in the post-World War II American Jewish community.

Biography

Kamenetsky was born at a folwark (farming estate) called Kalyskovka owned by his grandfather Samuel-Hirsh Kamenetsky, Russia, in 1891.[1]

Kamenetsky became rabbi of Tzitavyan in 1926 and moved to North America in 1937, where he initially took rabbinical positions in Seattle and then (from 1938 to 1945) Toronto. From 1948 to 1968 he headed Mesivta Torah Vodaath in Brooklyn, New York City. After leaving the yeshiva he moved to Monsey, New York, where he focused on publishing his books.[2]

He was an expert in Hebrew grammar and an advocate for English-language Jewish religious books and said that "today English has become a language of Torah."[3]

Family

Kamenetsky's first wife was Itta Ettil (Heller) Kamenetsky,[2]: p.317  who died on July 9, 1954. In 1958, Kamenetsky married Chana Urman of Toronto.[2] The officiator at Kamenetsky's marriage to Chana was his close friend and colleague, Rabbi Zelik Epstein. Chana died shortly after her husband in 1986.

Kamenetsky's son, Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky, heads the Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia and 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 (1930-2019), vice Rosh yeshiva at Yeshivas Itri, and author of Making of a Godol on his father, and Avraham (1930–2013). His oldest daughter, Malka (1921–2013), was married to Rabbi Yisrael Shurin (d. 2007).[4] A second daughter, Rivka, was married to Rabbi Hirsch Diskind (1922–2013), the long-time Dean of Bais Yaakov of Baltimore.[5]

His grandson Dov Shurin is a singer-songwriter.

Legacy

He was the subject of the 1993 biography Reb Yaakov: The Life and Times of HaGaon Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky, written by Yonasan Rosenblum and first published by Artscroll-Mesorah. Rabbi Aharon Feldman in The Jewish Observer called Reb Yaakov a "remarkable book which genuinely evokes the spirit of Reb Yaakov".[6][7]

Works

  • Emes leYaakov al HaShas ("Truth to Jacob") – a five-volume work with in depth commentary on the Talmud.
  • Emes leYaakov al Shulchan Aruch – a volume with commentary and rulings on Shulchan Aruch, The Jewish Code of Law
  • Emes leYaakov (Formerly known as Iyunim BaMikra) – a two volume commentary on Torah and Prophets, which includes grammatical observations on the Hebrew of the Bible (dikduk).

References

  1. ↑ Kamenetsky, Nathan. Making of a Godol.
  2. 1 2 3 Yonason Rosenblum (1993). Reb Yaakov: The Life and Times of HaGaon Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky. p. 317. ISBN 0-89906-413-2.
  3. ↑ Rabbi Nosson Scherman in The Mandate to Communicate Torah in the Vernacular: Excerpts From a Presentation to an Eleventh Grade (The Jewish Observer, April 1998, p. 27).
  4. ↑ Bio of R' Yisroel Shurin, Reprinted from Ya'ated Neeman, 2007
  5. ↑ Rav Hirsch Diskind zt"l, reprinted from Matzav.com
  6. ↑ Feldman, Rabbi Aharon (November 1944). "Gedolim Books And The Biography of Reb Yaakov Kamenetsky". The Jewish Observer. XXVII (8): 32–34.
  7. ↑ Elinsky, Kate (2022-04-06). "On Re-Reading a Banned Book: Nathan Kamenetsky's Making of a Godol". Jewish Review of Books. Retrieved 2025-11-22.

Rosenblum, Yonason (1993). Reb Yaakov: The Life and Times of HaGaon Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky. Brooklyn, NY: Mesorah Publications. ISBN 0-89906-413-2.

Kamenetsky, Noson (Nathan) (2005). Making of a Godol—Improved Edition. ISBN 965-90379-2-9.

Dor-Shav (Dershowitz), Zecharia (2022). "Personal Experiences with Great Rabbis of My Generation". Dershowitz Family Saga. ISBN 9781510770232.