Alexander Zusia Friedman
| Rabbi Alexander Zusia Friedman | |
|---|---|
| Position | Secretary-General |
| Organisation | Agudath Israel of Poland |
| Began | 1925 |
| Ended | 1943 |
| Personal details | |
| Birth name | Alexander Zusia Friedman |
| Born | 9 August 1897 Sochaczew, Poland |
| Died | November 1943 (age 46) Trawniki concentration camp |
| Nationality | Poland |
| Denomination | Orthodox |
| Residence | Warsaw |
| Parents | Aharon Yehoshua Friedman |
| Alma mater | Sochatchov yeshiva |
Alexander Zusia Friedman (Hebrew: אלכסנדר זושא פרידמן) (9 August 1897 – November 1943) was a prominent Polish Orthodox Jewish rabbi, communal activist, educator, journalist, and Torah scholar. He was the founding editor of the first Agudath Israel Hebrew journal, Digleinu (Our Banner), and author of Ma'ayanah shel Torah (Wellsprings of Torah), an anthology of commentaries on the weekly Torah portion, which is still popular today. He was incarcerated in the Warsaw Ghetto and deported to the Trawniki concentration camp, where he was selected for deportation to the death camps and murdered around November 1943.
Friedman was born in Sochaczew (Sochatchov), Poland in 1899. His father, Aharon Yehoshua Friedman, was a poor shamash (synagogue caretaker); his mother supplemented the family income by selling wares in various fairs and markets. Alexander Zusia, their only son, proved himself to be an illui (exceptional student) at a very young age. When he was 3, he knew the entire Book of Genesis by heart. When he was 9, his melamed informed his father that he had nothing left to teach him. His father then arranged for him to learn with a Talmudic scholar who had been brought from another town by three wealthy families to teach their gifted sons. The tuition was three rubles each per week, a huge sum in those days. When these families heard that Alexander Zusia would join their group, they offered to pay his father the three rubles for the privilege of having Alexander Zusia learn with and motivate their sons. But his father insisted on paying the tuition himself, which amounted to his entire week’s wages.
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