Chanoch Dov Padwa
Encyclopedia
Rabbi Chanoch Dov Padwa (17 August 1908–16 August 2000) was a world-renowned Orthodox Jewish
posek
, Talmud
ist and rabbinic leader.
, a small town in Galicia (now Ukraine
). His father, Eliezer Wolf, named him after the rabbi of nearby Alesk. At five years old, he moved with his family to Vienna
to escape the First World War.
From an early age, Chanoch Dov was known as an "ilui" (Talmudic prodigy), studying at the yeshiva
of Tzelem
, Hungary
and in the Belzer
Shtiebel
in Cracow, Poland
. A lifelong Belzer Chasid, he travelled to Belz from Cracow in 1926, to participate in the funeral of the Belzer Rebbe
, Rabbi Yissochor Dov Rokeach
.
Besides studying in Vienna under Rabbi Chaim Pinter of Bukovsk, his primary teacher, Chanoch Dov was close to the Tchebiner Rov
and the Rabbi of Teplik. With growing recognition as a highly gifted scholar, he married Chana Gittel, the daughter of Naphtoli Gottesman, secretary to the Hasidic master Rabbi Aharon of Belz
(date unknown). His first employment was as the rabbi of synagogue in Vienna but he was arrested as an alien and imprisoned when Austria
was annexed by Nazi Germany
in the Anschluss
of 1938.
Rabbi Henoch, as he became affectionately known, was released just in time to escape WWII Europe by catching the very last ship bound for the British Mandate of Palestine. Accompanied by his wife and children he arrived at the port after its departure and was forced to chase the vessel with a small craft to get on board. The potential dangers of staying in Vienna had been so acute that he was advised by the Rabbi of Altstadt that he should even desecrate the Shabbat
if necessary to help him leave, as remaining in Europe would be classed as pikuach nefesh
.
Rabbi Henoch's arrival in Jerusalem in August 1940 was greeted with great enthusiasm and he was nominated as pulpit rabbi of the Brod Synagogue. More importantly, his intellectual calibre was recognised when Jerusalem's Edah Charedis Beth Din
appointed him dayan. This prestigious position brought him worldwide recognition and gave him religious jurisdiction over several communities in the Holy Land including the Botei Rand neighborhood of Jerusalem where he was the designated rabbi.
In 1946 while living in Jerusalem, his wife Chana Gittel died of pneumonia. Their five children would be raised by his second wife Yehudis, granddaughter of Jerusalem Chief-Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld
), whom he married in 1947.
, spiritual head of England
’s UOHC and rabbi of its Adath Yisroel synagogue, sent two rabbis to Jerusalem to select a senior rabbinical figure to head the Union’s Beth Din. Rabbi Padwa was widely recommended to them by many, not least by the famed Gaon of Tchebin, as a fitting spiritual leader for London's Orthodox community.
Rabbi Padwa accepted and relocated to London
, where he would serve devotedly for the next 45 years. He set to work building up key institutions such as schools, synagogues, welfare organisations and homes for the elderly. He served as a teacher, legal judge in cases that go beyond the obvious religious realm, and a role model for the young. It was under his firm leadership that London grew to become a leading center of Haredi Judaism
.
His influence was profound, felt throughout Western Europe
and beyond. Despite becoming a world-renowned Halachic authority and a household name in the Jewish religious community, he lived modestly in Stamford Hill
where he was consulted by rabbinical authorities and Jewish leaders from around the world.
Still, some of his better known rulings include:
Three volumes of his responsa, Cheishev Ho'ephod, containing many of Rabbi Padwa's halachic rulings, have appeared in print and function as precedents in halachic law. Another popular book on the laws of nidda
, Poseach Shaar, written by his son-in-law Dayan Friedman, is credited to his authority.
In the last two years of his life, fighting growing mental frailty, Rabbi Henoch retired from effective leadership, but kept up religious activities such as officiating at weddings and the like. He acted as sandek (ceremonial holder of the baby) at a bris
one day before he died.
Rabbi Padwa died on 16 August 2000. Despite its timing and with most of the community away on vacation, his funeral in London was attended by around 2,000 people. His remains were flown to Jerusalem for burial, where a second, much larger funeral was held. The main eulogy there was delivered by Rabbi Shmuel Wosner
, who noted the strong bond of friendship which had existed between himself and the deceased for seventy years, ever since they had known each other in Vienna. He stressed that great former Halachic authorities, such as Rabbi Yosef Zvi Dushinsky and the Gaon of Tchebin, had greatly admired Reb Henoch, and that he had gained much practical Halachic experience from serving under them. This, he said, greatly enhanced his abilities, and stature as a posek and precedent setter in Jewish law.
He was buried in the rabbinical section of Har HaMenuchot
. He was survived by his third wife, three sons, two daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
The honorary officers of the UOHC announced the appointment of his youngest son, Rabbi Ephraim, as the new rabbinical head of the community. They hoped the Padwa name would help hold together an increasingly fractured community that could fast split up with Reb Henoch's passing. Another son, Rabbi Yosef is a highly respected rabbinical authority, Rabbi Shalom Friedman, the oldest son-in-law, is a respected rabbi in the community as are many of the Padwa grandchildren.
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...
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....
, Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
ist and rabbinic leader.
Early years
Chanoch Dov Padwa was born on 17 August 1908 (20 Av 5668 in the Hebrew calendar) in BuskBusk, Ukraine
Busk is a city located in Busk Raion in Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine. The city's population was 8,896 as of the 2006 Ukrainian Census.It is administrative center of the Busk Raion....
, a small town in Galicia (now Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
). His father, Eliezer Wolf, named him after the rabbi of nearby Alesk. At five years old, he moved with his family to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
to escape the First World War.
From an early age, Chanoch Dov was known as an "ilui" (Talmudic prodigy), studying at the 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...
of Tzelem
Deutschkreutz
Deutschkreutz is an Austrian market town in the District of Oberpullendorf, Burgenland. Its Hungarian name is Sopronkeresztúr , in Hebrew it is called Zelem , .- Geography :...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
and in the Belzer
Belz (Hasidic dynasty)
Belz is a Hasidic dynasty named for the town of Belz in Western Ukraine, near the Polish border. The town has existed since at least the 10th century, with the Jewish community being established during the 14th century. The town became home to Hasidic Judaism in the early 19th century...
Shtiebel
Shtiebel
A shtiebel is a place used for communal Jewish prayer. In contrast to a formal synagogue, a shtiebel is far smaller and approached more casually. It is typically as small as a room in a private home or a place of business which is set aside for the express purpose of prayer, or it may be as large...
in Cracow, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. A lifelong Belzer Chasid, he travelled to Belz from Cracow in 1926, to participate in the funeral of the Belzer Rebbe
Rebbe
Rebbe , which means master, teacher, or mentor, is a Yiddish word derived from the Hebrew word Rabbi. It often refers to the leader of a Hasidic Jewish movement...
, Rabbi Yissochor Dov Rokeach
Yissachar Dov Rokeach (I)
Yissachar Dov Rokeach , , was the third Rebbe of the Belz Hasidic dynasty. He was the second son of Rabbi Yehoshua Rokeach , and served as the third Belzer Rebbe from his father's death in 1894 until his own death in 1926.-Personal life:Yissachar Dov was born in the town of Belz, Poland...
.
Besides studying in Vienna under Rabbi Chaim Pinter of Bukovsk, his primary teacher, Chanoch Dov was close to the Tchebiner Rov
Dov Berish Weidenfeld
Rabbi Dov Berish Weidenfeld was the Chief Rabbi of Tshebin , Poland, and after World War II spent his final years in Jerusalem...
and the Rabbi of Teplik. With growing recognition as a highly gifted scholar, he married Chana Gittel, the daughter of Naphtoli Gottesman, secretary to the Hasidic master Rabbi Aharon of Belz
Aharon Rokeach
Aharon Rokeach was the fourth Rebbe of the Belz Hasidic dynasty. He led the movement from 1926 until his death in 1957....
(date unknown). His first employment was as the rabbi of synagogue in Vienna but he was arrested as an alien and imprisoned when Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
was annexed by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in the Anschluss
Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
of 1938.
Rabbi Henoch, as he became affectionately known, was released just in time to escape WWII Europe by catching the very last ship bound for the British Mandate of Palestine. Accompanied by his wife and children he arrived at the port after its departure and was forced to chase the vessel with a small craft to get on board. The potential dangers of staying in Vienna had been so acute that he was advised by the Rabbi of Altstadt that he should even desecrate the Shabbat
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
if necessary to help him leave, as remaining in Europe would be classed as pikuach nefesh
Pikuach Nefesh
The Hebrew term pikuakh nefesh describes the principle in Jewish law that the preservation of human life overrides virtually any other religious consideration...
.
Rabbi Henoch's arrival in Jerusalem in August 1940 was greeted with great enthusiasm and he was nominated as pulpit rabbi of the Brod Synagogue. More importantly, his intellectual calibre was recognised when Jerusalem's Edah Charedis Beth Din
Beth din
A beth din, bet din, beit din or beis din is a rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel...
appointed him dayan. This prestigious position brought him worldwide recognition and gave him religious jurisdiction over several communities in the Holy Land including the Botei Rand neighborhood of Jerusalem where he was the designated rabbi.
In 1946 while living in Jerusalem, his wife Chana Gittel died of pneumonia. Their five children would be raised by his second wife Yehudis, granddaughter of Jerusalem Chief-Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld
Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld
Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, also spelled Zonnenfeld, was the Chief Rabbi and co-founder of the Edah HaChareidis, Haredi Jewish community in Jerusalem, during the years of the British Mandate of Palestine. He was originally given the name "Chaim", however, the name "Yosef" was added to him while he...
), whom he married in 1947.
Move to England
In 1955, Rabbi Dr Solomon SchonfeldSolomon Schonfeld
Rabbi Dr Solomon Schonfeld was a British rabbi who is heralded as one of the most remarkable, yet least known of the Holocaust heroes.Schonfeld studied at the yeshiva in Nitra, Slovakia...
, spiritual head of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
’s UOHC and rabbi of its Adath Yisroel synagogue, sent two rabbis to Jerusalem to select a senior rabbinical figure to head the Union’s Beth Din. Rabbi Padwa was widely recommended to them by many, not least by the famed Gaon of Tchebin, as a fitting spiritual leader for London's Orthodox community.
Rabbi Padwa accepted and relocated to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where he would serve devotedly for the next 45 years. He set to work building up key institutions such as schools, synagogues, welfare organisations and homes for the elderly. He served as a teacher, legal judge in cases that go beyond the obvious religious realm, and a role model for the young. It was under his firm leadership that London grew to become a leading center of Haredi Judaism
Haredi Judaism
Haredi or Charedi/Chareidi Judaism is the most conservative form of Orthodox Judaism, often referred to as ultra-Orthodox. A follower of Haredi Judaism is called a Haredi ....
.
His influence was profound, felt throughout Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
and beyond. Despite becoming a world-renowned Halachic authority and a household name in the Jewish religious community, he lived modestly in Stamford Hill
Stamford Hill
Stamford Hill is a place in the north of the London Borough of Hackney, England, near the border with Haringey. It is home to Europe's largest Hasidic Jewish and Adeni Jewish community.Stamford Hill is NNE of Charing Cross.-History:...
where he was consulted by rabbinical authorities and Jewish leaders from around the world.
Halachic decisor
Rabbi Padwa was known for an outstanding ability to issue Halachic rulings, as well as great skill in solving complex halachic problems. Although some of his rulings were controversial and thus well known, many of his most important Halachic decisions have entered the mainstream of Jewish law and are regarded as universal. His method of applying practical and humanist thinking to the code of Halacha was revolutionary and introduced his more modern approach to many chareidi rabbis. His oft repeated rejoinder to those who questioned his perceived laxity and willingness to adapt halachic dogma to accommodate new problems and knowledge was, 'Lo nitna Torah lemalachei hasharet', the Torah was not given for angels [but for human beings]. This sums up part of his philosophy.Still, some of his better known rulings include:
- banning television in the home; He perceived TV as a pernicious influence.
- opposing pre-nuptial agreements as a way of dealing with the aguna (chained wife) problem, claiming this undermined the fundamental principles of the Jewish marriage bond
- opposing the creation and use of a northwest LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
EruvEruvAn Eruv is a ritual enclosure around most Orthodox Jewish and Conservative Jewish homes or communities. In such communities, an Eruv is seen to enable the carrying of objects out of doors on the Jewish Sabbath that would otherwise be forbidden by Torah law...
after inspecting its outline route, on halachic and practical grounds (he was not opposed to the concept of an eruv per se).
Three volumes of his responsa, Cheishev Ho'ephod, containing many of Rabbi Padwa's halachic rulings, have appeared in print and function as precedents in halachic law. Another popular book on the laws of nidda
Nidda
Nidda could refer to:*Niddah, a concept in Judaism*Niddah , a tractate in the Mishna and Talmud*Nidda, Hesse, a town in Germany*Nidda , a river in Germany...
, Poseach Shaar, written by his son-in-law Dayan Friedman, is credited to his authority.
Death
Following the death of his second wife in 1993 he married his third wife Reisel Tauber, a childless widow who dedicated herself to serving a man she respected deeply. She would eventually survive him by several years.In the last two years of his life, fighting growing mental frailty, Rabbi Henoch retired from effective leadership, but kept up religious activities such as officiating at weddings and the like. He acted as sandek (ceremonial holder of the baby) at a bris
Brit milah
The brit milah is a Jewish religious circumcision ceremony performed on 8-day old male infants by a mohel. The brit milah is followed by a celebratory meal .-Biblical references:...
one day before he died.
Rabbi Padwa died on 16 August 2000. Despite its timing and with most of the community away on vacation, his funeral in London was attended by around 2,000 people. His remains were flown to Jerusalem for burial, where a second, much larger funeral was held. The main eulogy there was delivered by Rabbi Shmuel Wosner
Shmuel Wosner
Rabbi Shmuel Wosner is a Haredi rabbi and posek living in Bnei Brak, Israel....
, who noted the strong bond of friendship which had existed between himself and the deceased for seventy years, ever since they had known each other in Vienna. He stressed that great former Halachic authorities, such as Rabbi Yosef Zvi Dushinsky and the Gaon of Tchebin, had greatly admired Reb Henoch, and that he had gained much practical Halachic experience from serving under them. This, he said, greatly enhanced his abilities, and stature as a posek and precedent setter in Jewish law.
He was buried in the rabbinical section of Har HaMenuchot
Har HaMenuchot
Har HaMenuchot is the largest cemetery in Jerusalem, Israel. It is located at the western edge of the city adjacent to the neighborhood of Givat Shaul, with commanding views of Mevaseret Zion to the north, Motza to the west, and Har Nof to the south.-History:...
. He was survived by his third wife, three sons, two daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
The honorary officers of the UOHC announced the appointment of his youngest son, Rabbi Ephraim, as the new rabbinical head of the community. They hoped the Padwa name would help hold together an increasingly fractured community that could fast split up with Reb Henoch's passing. Another son, Rabbi Yosef is a highly respected rabbinical authority, Rabbi Shalom Friedman, the oldest son-in-law, is a respected rabbi in the community as are many of the Padwa grandchildren.