Pesach Pruskin

Russian Orthodox Jewish rabbi and rosh yeshiva

Rabbi

Pesach Pruskin

Personal life
Born| 1879

Koshchino, Smolensky District, Smolensk Oblast

Died| October 24, 1939
Spouse| Tziporah Pruskin
(née Lipschutz)
Children| R' Avraham
Rivka Zukovsky
R' Nosson Nota
R' Yehuda Leib
Parents|

* Pesach (father)
* Rachel (mother)

Alma mater| Slabodka Yeshiva
Slutsk Yeshiva
Occupation| Rabbi, Rosh yeshiva
Religious life
Religion| Judaism
Denomination| Orthodox Judaism
Position| Rosh yeshiva
Yeshiva| Kobrin
Began| 1923
Ended| 1939
Other| Mashgiach at Slutsk Yeshiva
Rosh in Shklov/Amtsislav
Yahrtzeit| 11 Cheshvan 5700
Residence| Kobryn

Rabbi Pesach Pruskin was an Orthodox Jewish rabbi and rosh yeshiva in White Russia before World War II, most notably in Kobrin. He was known as one of the most brilliant Torah scholars of his time.[1]

## Early life

[edit]

Rabbi Pruskin was born in Koshchino [RU], Smolensky District, Smolensk Oblast, in the Russian Empire, to Rachel Palewsky, in 1879.> His father had died before he was born and so he was named after him. After his birth, the family moved to Antipole near Kobrin where Rachel's grandfather was a rabbi.

In his teens, he studied in the Radin Yeshiva before moving on to Yeshiva Knesses Yisrael of Slabodka, where he became a student of Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, known as the Alter of Slabodka (or "the Alter"). He also studied for a short time in the Kelm Talmud Torah.[2] In 1897, the Alter sent fourteen of his top students to the Slutsk Yeshiva where they would become the nucleus of the new institution. Pesach Pruskin was among this group.[3] After his marriage to Tziporah Lipschutz, he became a night watchman at an orchard, and spent much of his time studying and thinking, completing the Rambam's Moreh Nevuchim.[4]

## Rabbinic career

[edit]

It was during his tenure of watchman that Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer of the Slutsk Yeshiva asked him to return to the yeshiva and accept the post of mashgiach ruchani.[4] Although he declined the invitation at first, he later accepted. Among his students in Slutsk were Moshe Feinstein, future posek and rosh yeshiva in America, who would consider Rabbi Pruskin his primary teacher.[4] During his tenure in Slutsk, Rabbi Pruskin advanced significantly in Torah study,[2] and soon became recognized as one of the most brilliant Torah scholars of his time.

On the advice of the Alter of Slabodka, Rabbi Pruskin left Slutsk to establish a new yeshiva in Shklov. Rabbi Meltzer selected a group of his premier students to join Rabbi Pruskin as the first students in Shklov, including Moshe Feinstein. In 1911, he was asked by the Jewish community of Mstsislaw (Amstislav) to become their rabbi. He responded that he would take the position on the condition that he could bring his yeshiva with him, a condition they accepted. Thus, Rabbi Pruskin and his students moved to Amstislav.[4]

### Kobrin

[edit]

Kobryn, 1930s

When Amstislav came under Soviet rule, Rabbi Pruskin returned to his hometown of Kobrin, and after the death of the city's rabbi, Rabbi David Greenberg, he was appointed as rabbi. In 1923, he founded the Kobrin Yeshiva. Although the yeshiva served primarily younger students (aged thirteen to seventeen years old) to prepare them for study in other yeshivas, there were some students who remained into their mid-twenties. For many years, Rabbi Yosef Leib Nendik served as mashgiach ruchani, and Rabbi Shlomo Mattes also had a position on the yeshiva's faculty. The institution was relatively small, never exceeding a student body of one hundred.[5]

In 1939, after the Soviet occupation of Poland, the government closed down the yeshiva as well as the city's beis yaakov, giving Rabbi Pruskin intense heartache that led to his death that year.[2]

## Family

[edit]

Of Rabbi Pruskin's three sons, only one survived the Holocaust, that being his son Rabbi Avraham Pruskin. He escaped to America with refugees from the Mir Yeshiva together with manuscripts of his father's classes, which were published by R' Pesach's grandson under the title Shiurei Maran Rav Pesach MiKobrin (Lectures of Rabbi Pesach of Kobrin). His daughter, Rivka Zukovsky, died in October 2004.[6]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Finkelman, Rabbi Shimon; Scherman, Rabbi Nosson (December 1986). "Origins of Greatness". Reb Moshe: The Life and Ideals of HaGaon Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (First ed.). Mesorah Publications, Ltd. p. 31\. ISBN 0-89906-480-9. "As time went on, he amassed a vast amount of knowledge and, combining this with diligence and his newly acquired sharpness of mind, Reb Pesach went on to become one of the foremost gaonim of his day."
2. ^ a b c "This Day in History – 11 Cheshvan/November 4". Hamodia.com. Hamodia. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
3. ^ Pekier, Rabbi Alter (1995). Reb Aharon (Abridged ed.). C.I.S. Publishers/Lakewood Cheder School. p. 35.
4. ^ a b c d Finkelman, Rabbi Shimon; Scherman, Rabbi Nosson (December 1986). "Origins of Greatness". Reb Moshe: The Life and Ideals of HaGaon Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (First ed.). Mesorah Publications, Ltd. ISBN 0-89906-480-9.
5. ^ Wein, Berel (September 2001). Faith & Fate: The Story of the Jewish People in the Twentieth Century (First ed.). Shaar Press. p. 120\. ISBN 1-57819-593-4.
6. ^ "רבקה זוכובסקי". Myheritage.com. Retrieved 9 October 2020.

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* WorldCat

National|

* United States
* Israel

* v
* t
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Pre–World War II European Yeshivos

Lithuania|

| Yeshivos|

* Kelm Talmud Torah
* Ponevezh Yeshiva
* Ramailes Yeshiva
* Slabodka Yeshiva
* Telshe Yeshiva

|

Notable roshei yeshiva|

* Avraham Yitzchak Bloch
* Yosef Leib Bloch
* Moshe Mordechai Epstein
* Nosson Tzvi Finkel
* Eliezer Gordon
* Shlomo Heiman
* Tzvi Hersh Levitan
* Israel Salanter
* Yitzchak Isaac Sher

Notable mashgichim|

* Leib Chasman
* Meir Chadash
* Dov Tzvi Heller
* Ben Zion Kranitz
* Yeruchom Levovitz

Belarus|

| Yeshivos|

* Baranovich Yeshiva
* Grodno Yeshiva
* Kaminetz Yeshiva
* Kobrin Yeshiva
* Mir Yeshiva
* Novardok Yeshiva
* Pinsk Yeshiva-Novardok
* Radin Yeshiva
* Slonim Yeshiva
* Slutsk-Kletsk Yeshiva
* Volozhin Yeshiva
* Tomchei Tmimim

|

Notable roshei yeshiva|

* Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin
* Eliezer Yehuda Finkel
* Yosef Yozel Horwitz
* Yisrael Meir Kagan
* Elya Baruch Kammai
* Aharon Kotler
* Moshe Landynski
* Boruch Ber Leibowitz
* Isser Zalman Meltzer
* Pesach Pruskin
* David Rappoport
* Shimon Shkop
* Chaim Soloveitchik
* Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik
* Chaim Leib Tiktinsky
* Naftoli Trop
* Chaim of Volozhin
* Yitzhak of Volozhin
* Elchonon Wasserman
* Shabsi Yogel

Notable mashgichim|

* Shlomo Harkavy
* Yisroel Yaakov Lubchansky
* Yosef Leib Nenedik
* Zalman Dolinsky
* Sheftel Kramer

Poland|

| Yeshivos|

* Keser Torah Radomsk
* Lomza Yeshiva
* Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva
* Mesivta of Warsaw
* Novardok Yeshiva

|

Notable roshei yeshiva|

* Aryeh Tzvi Frumer
* Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky
* Meir Dan Plotzky
* David Moshe Rabinowicz
* Meir Shapiro
* Avraham Yoffen

Notable mashgichim|

* Moshe Rosenstain
* Yehuda Leib Nekritz

Slovakia|

| Yeshivos|

* Nitra Yeshiva
* Pressburg Yeshiva

|

Notable roshei yeshiva|

* Akiva Sofer
* Avraham Shmuel Binyamin Sofer
* Moses Sofer
* Simcha Bunim Sofer
* Shmuel Dovid Ungar

Western
Europe|

| Yeshivos|

* Gateshead Yeshiva
* Heide Yeshiva
* Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary
* Manchester Yeshiva
* Montreaux Yeshiva
* Torah Lehranstalt
* Yeshivas Chachmei Tzorfas

|

Notable roshei yeshiva|

* Eliyahu Botchko
* Solomon Breuer
* Joseph Breuer
* Chaim Yitzchok Chaiken
* Azriel Hildesheimer
* David Zvi Hoffmann
* Avrohom Eliyahu Kaplan
* Nachman Dovid Landinski
* Moshe Yitzchak Segal
* Shraga Feivel Shapiro
* Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg

Related articles|

* Yeshivas in World War II
* Vaad HaYeshivos

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