Rabbi Henoch Leibowitz, Dean of Yeshivat Chafetz Chaim in Queens, New York, passed away this week at the age of 92. Students described him as "one of the last great rashei yeshiva [Yeshiva deans] and baalei mussar [masters of Jewish ethics] of the previous generation."
Rav Henoch, as he was known, was the only son of his saintly father, Rabbi Dovid Leibowitz, who founded Yeshiva Rabbeinu Yisroel Meir HaCohen, known as the Chafetz Chaim Yeshiva, in 1933.
Rabbi Leibowitz the father - a nephew of the saintly Chafetz Chaim, the author of the Mishna Berurah - is credited with having brought to the United States the teachings of high behavioral and character standards based on the "majesty of man," known as the Slabodka school of Jewish ethics.
On December 7, 1941, when his father passed away, Rav Henoch took over the helm of the yeshiva, basing it on mussar, reaching out to the Jewish public at large, and intense, precise study of Talmud.
In the coming years, Chafetz Chaim yeshiva high schools were opened in New York, Rochester, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Miami, Los Angeles, Ottawa, and elsewhere across North America. A branch of the yeshiva was opened in Jerusalem in the early 1970's as well.
Rabbi Rubenstein and Wife Killed in Fire
The New York rabbinical world suffered another loss this week as well, when the rabbi of the Young Israel of Scarsdale for the past 25 years, Rabbi Jacob Rubenstein, and his wife Deborah, were killed in a fire that broke out in their home over the Sabbath. A past president of the Rabbinical Council of America, Rabbi Rubenstein was highly regarded as a talented teacher and public spokesman for Orthodox Judaism, and was beloved among his congregants for his role in their everyday lives and communal affairs. His wife Deborah was a teacher of Jewish studies. They are survived by four children.