Rabbi Avrohom Blumenkrantz (1944 - February 22, 2007) was a prominent American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Orthodox

Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...

 rabbi. He was a widely consulted authority on the laws of Passover

Passover

Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...

 kashrut

Kashrut

Kashrut is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér , meaning "fit" Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus) is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha (Jewish law) is termed...

 and published an annual Passover guide for many years.

Early life

Rabbi Blumenkrantz was born in Mandatory Palestine to parents of Ashkenazi Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an extraction, Rabbi Chaim Menachem Bentzion and Rebbetzin Devorah. His father was a highly trained talmudic scholar from Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

, who attended some of the best yeshiva

Yeshiva

Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...

s in pre-war Europe, including the Novardok yeshiva

Novardok yeshiva

The Novardok yeshiva in Navahrudak, then the Russian Empire, was one of the biggest and most important yeshivas in pre-World War II Europe, and a powerful force within the Mussar movement. The yeshiva was established in 1896, together with a Kollel for married men, under the direction of Rabbi...

. In 1948 Rabbi Chaim was abroad at the outbreak of the War of Independence

1948 Arab-Israeli War

The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known to Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation The war commenced after the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the creation of an independent Israel at midnight on 14 May 1948 when, following a period of civil war, Arab armies invaded...

, and chose not to return. Instead young Avrohom and the rest of the family left Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 aboard a ship. In the early 1950s the family settled in Bogotá

Bogotá

Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...

, Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

, where Rabbi Chaim became chief rabbi

Chief Rabbi

Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities...

.

Avrohom began his education in Bogotá, but came to New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 as a teenager to study at Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem

Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem

Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem, is one of the oldest existent yeshivot in New York City, and is renowned for being the institution led by Rabbi Moshe Feinstein.-Location:The yeshiva has two campuses....

 under the famed Rabbi Moshe Feinstein

Moshe Feinstein

Moshe Feinstein was a Lithuanian Orthodox rabbi, scholar and posek , who was world-renowned for his expertise in Halakha and was regarded by many as the de facto supreme halakhic authority for Orthodox Jewry of North America during his lifetime...

, with whom Rabbi Blumenkrantz maintained a close relationship until Rabbi Feinstein's death in 1986.

Rabbinical career

Rabbi Blumenkrantz became a confidant of Rabbi Feinstein, screening his calls and filtering the constant stream of halakhic

Halakha

Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...

 questions posed to the posek

Posek

Posek is the term in Jewish law for "decider"—a legal scholar who decides the Halakha in cases of law where previous authorities are inconclusive or in those situations where no halakhic precedent exists....

. At age 25 Rabbi Feinstein asked his student to teach a semicha

Semicha

, also , or is derived from a Hebrew word which means to "rely on" or "to be authorized". It generally refers to the ordination of a rabbi within Judaism. In this sense it is the "transmission" of rabbinic authority to give advice or judgment in Jewish law...

 class in Yoreh De'ah

Yoreh De'ah

Yoreh De'ah is a section of Rabbi Jacob ben Asher's compilation of halakha , Arba'ah Turim around 1300. This section treats all aspects of Jewish law not pertinent to the Hebrew calendar, finance, torts, marriage, divorce, or sexual conduct....

 at MTJ. Afterwards, Rabbi Feinstein directed his student to prominent teaching positions in Staten Island

Staten Island

Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...

 and then Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

, at which Rabbi Blumenkrantz excelled.

Following in his father's footsteps, Rabbi Blumenkrantz took the helm of a synagogue

Synagogue

A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...

 in Far Rockaway, Queens

Far Rockaway, Queens

Far Rockaway is a neighborhood on the Rockaway Peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens in the United States. It is the easternmost section of the Rockaways. The neighborhood starts at the Nassau County line and extends west to Beach 32nd Street. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community...

.

Passover guide

Aside from being a teacher and a community rabbi, Rabbi Blumenkrantz is best remembered for his annual Passover guide, The Laws of Pesach, a publication relied on by observant Jews throughout North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 to maintain high standards of kashrut observance during Passover. Rabbi Blumenkrantz would update the guide annually, to reflect changes in the food industry

Food industry

The food production is a complex, global collective of diverse businesses that together supply much of the food energy consumed by the world population...

: new products, new ingredients, changes in food preparation methods, etc. The guide began as an unpublished newsletter that Rabbi Blumenkrantz began to privately distribute in the 1970s. As the circulation of the newsletter spread, and more and more people consulted Rabbi Blumenkrantz on complicated questions of Passover observance, he expanded the coverage of his newsletter, until it became book-length and started taking several months to put together.

At the time of his death, Rabbi Blumenkrantz was working on the 2007 volume of the guide. His family announced that the work would be completed in time for Passover. The family continued to publish the Passover Guide in his memory annually.

Death and burial

Rabbi Blumenkrantz died in New York on February 22, 2007, of complications from diabetes. He was flown to Israel for burial on the Mount of Olives

Mount of Olives

The Mount of Olives is a mountain ridge in East Jerusalem with three peaks running from north to south. The highest, at-Tur, rises to 818 meters . It is named for the olive groves that once covered its slopes...

 in Jerusalem.

Sources

• Gershon Tannenbaum, Rabbi Avrohom Blumenkrantz zt”l (1944-2007) Kashrus Champion, The Jewish Press, February 28, 2007
• Yair Hoffman, Obituary of Rabbi Avrohom Blumenkrantz, Five Towns Jewish Times, March 1, 2007
• T. Silber, Remembering Harav Avraham Blumenkrantz zt"l: A Renowned Rav, Posek, and Mentor, Hamodia
  Hamodia
  Hamodia is a Hebrew language daily newspaper, published in Jerusalem, Israel. A daily English language edition is also published in the United States, and weekly English-language editions in England and Israel. A weekly edition for French readers debuted in 2008. The U.S. version is the first...
  
  (New York), February 28, 2007