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Zelig Reuven Bengis

Zelig Reuven Bengis
Zelig Reuven Bengis with wife.gif
Zelig Reuven Bengis and his wife
Personal details
Born 1864
Shnipishok, Russia
Died May 21, 1953(1953-05-21) (aged 88–89)
Jerusalem, Israel

Zelig Reuven Bengis (1864 – 21 May 1953) was the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem for the Edah HaChareidis. He wrote a seven-volume commentary on the Talmud, called "Leflagos Reuven".

He was the son of Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Bengis, the Rabbi of the Russian Empire (now Lithuanian) town of Šnipiškės (now a neighborhood of Vilna) and his wife Shayna, the granddaughter of Rabbi Aaron Brody, dayan of Vilna. Rabbi Zelig Reuven was soon known as "the Shnipishoker illui" (prodigy). When he was 17 years old, he went to learn in the Volozhin yeshiva under the Netziv, who called him 'the living Shas'. While learning at Valozhyn, his reputation quickly grew and he was known as an extremely sharp student and a diligent learner.

After having learned in Volozhin for several years, he married the daughter of Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Broide, Rav of the towns Nemakščiai (Nemoksht in Yiddish), Švėkšna (Shvkshna in Yiddish) and Žagarė (Zhager in Yiddish). After his marriage, he spent eight years living with his in-laws, learning all day. In 1892 he was appointed Rabbi of Boćki (Bodki), Poland, succeeding Rabbi Malkiel Tzvi Tenenbaum who took the position of Rabbi of Lomza.

After having spent 19 years as Rav of Boćki (Bodki), in 1911 he became the Rav of Kalvarija, Lithuania. During his time as Rav of Kalvarija, World War I broke out. During the war, the Russian government forced Jews to move further eastward. Rabbi Bengis settled in Smolensk, a Russian town where many non-religious Jews lived. In Smolensk, Rabbi Bengis involved himself in teaching these non-religious Jews about Judaism. In this, he received strong encouragement from the Chofetz Chaim.


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Wikipedia

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