The petirah just before erev Shabbos Shira of
Rabbi Dr. Wiesenberg of London at the age of 90 leaves the
community with a tremendous void. About him, one can truly
say, "Mi yitein lonu chalifoso; mi yiten lonu
temuroso"? Who can replace such a person?
It is always hard to find a replacement for a human being: no
one is simply a carbon copy of another. To find a
temuro, one who can assume the mantle left by another,
is even harder. And when the niftar is a particularly
unique person, it is impossible.
In the contemporary Torah world which is characterized by
increasing conformity, Rabbi Wiesenberg stood out as a person
of independence and originality.
A talmid chochom and outstanding scholar, he straddled
and harmonized the two worlds of Torah and chochmah.
In his personal life, he exemplified the ideas and ideals
which he learned and taught.
Eretz Shin'or horoh veyolodoh. A person is shaped by
many factors: the visible influences of the country, town,
and kehilla into which one is born, as well as the
subliminal atmosphere of the family and home.
In Rabbi Wiesenberg's case, the country was the world of pre-
war Hungary, characterized by a staunch, undeviating
commitment to Torah. The town was Kaschau (also known as
Kosice and Kassa), an ir ve'eim biYisroel with a
Jewish population of some 20,000, second in Hungary only to
Pressburg. The community was led by Rav Shaul Brach as
rav, Rav Shmuel Engel as av beis din and Reb
Shraga Wiesenberg, father of the niftar, as
kehilla secretary, responsible for all communal
matters.
Reb Shraga was no simple secretary; he was himself a
talmid chochom who gave a shiur on Ibn Ezra.
As he would write later, he encouraged his son to devote
himself to Torah vechochmoh yachdov tzemudim, sending
him to learn first in Tirnau and then Nitra.
When his Rebbe, Rav Yosef Horowitz, became rav of Frankfurt
in 1929, the talmid followed him, joining the renowned
Breuer Yeshiva. In Frankfurt, and later in Vienna, the
yeshiva bochur began his wider education. Moving to
London in 1935, he completed his university studies with a
doctoral thesis on the Targum Yonoson.
His rabbinical career as rav of various kehillos took
him first to Hammersmith in London and then to the provincial
communities of Cardiff and Sheffield.
After his retirement, he served for some years as acting rav
of the renowned Machzikei Hadath Shul.
Anglo-Jewish rabbonus, however, was not to be his destiny: he
was not a man to brook compromise or to cultivate a popular
public image. He resigned one of his posts when the daughter
of a prominent member of the community refused to accept the
requirements of halocho on the grounds that she did
not want to be a hypocrite. "But do you want your rabbi," he
said, "to be a hypocrite?"
His forte was learning, studying, teaching and writing,
initially in numerous shiurim all over London, and
from 1949 until his retirement in 1976 in the Hebrew
Department of University College.
Thereafter, he traveled daily to Cambridge to do research in
the Shechter-Taylor collection of the Cairo genizah
manuscripts.
"Oy na loh, omroh rekes, ki ovdoh kli chemdosoh." In
London, Rabbi Wiesenberg became a true kli chemdoh --
a "vessel" of extraordinary breadth and depth, filled to the
brim with Torah and erudition.
To talk to him was always a fascinating and illuminating
excursus into many unusual subjects. Not for him the
superficiality and lack of care which so often plagues our
generation; all aspects of Torah have to be treated with
meticulous concern and love.
So profound was his knowledge and so powerful his
presentation that those who attended his kol nidrei
shiurim on the avoda at the beis hamedrash
of Rav Elchonon Halpern, or heard his recital of kinos
on Tisha B'Av felt as if they were actually present in the
beis hamikdosh or, lehavdil, witnessing its
destruction.
He was a master of many subjects: Tanach, dikduk,
Aramaic and the Targumim, astronomy and the calendar,
minhogim, medieval Judeo-Arabic, teshuvos
hage'onim and Rambam, Rav Avrohom ben HaRambam (whose
peirush al haTorah he translated and annotated),
modern and ancient languages and much more. In the manner of
gedolim such as Rav Dovid Hoffman, zt"l, he
used to refute so-called "Biblical criticism" bivechinas
da mah shetoshiv.
To all these subjects he brought unusual bekius,
originality, breadth of approach, and the attention to detail
that characterized his finely-honed mind. He once wept during
a shiur upon discovering that a manuscript of the
Rambam was missing a particular word which he wished to
check.
Despite his familiarity with "other worlds," he was a true
yirei Shomayim and medakdek bekaloh kachamuroh.
His personal life was exemplary: his home one of harmony, and
hachnosas orchim; his time carefully regulated; his
speech pure and free of loshon hora and
rechilus; his spirit devoid of pettiness, guile or
small-mindedness. He would take unusual trouble in mitzvos
such as bikur cholim and nichum aveilim as well
as participating in other's simchos.
He was a friendly, approachable man with a ready smile and a
twinkle in his eyes. Above all, he was the most unassuming of
men: treating all others with respect, but for himself,
without pretensions or desire for kovod. His life
could be summed up in that great tribute of Chazal:
"shayaf ayil, veshayaf nofak, vegoras beOraisa tediro. Ashrei
mi shegodal bishem tov, veniftar bishem tov min
ho'olam."
May the shem tov which Rabbi Wiesenberg acquired
provide a measure of comfort for his dear wife, who devoted
herself to him unstintingly for some 58 years; to his
children and descendants, and to all of those who so keenly
feel his loss.
