Rav Tzvi Hersh Leibowitz, zt"l, the rav of Kever
Rochel and Kever Shimon Hatzaddik, was brought to his final
resting place in Jerusalem last week.
Rav Tzvi Hersh, son of Reb Zev Dov, was born in the Bitchkev
region in the Carpathian mountains of Hungary. In this home,
steeped with love of Torah and faith in Hashem, he developed
into a genuine ben Torah. When still very young, he
went to study in Torah far from home under the author of the
Atzei Chaim, the father of the first Admor of Satmar.
Tzvi Hersh progressed rapidly in that yeshiva, becoming one
of its finest students. He later opened the first Satmar
yeshiva, along with a group of bochurim. There he
studied with the Rav of Klausenberg, with whom he formed a
deep bond of friendship, maintained even after the two had
reached Eretz Yisroel. At the end of the war, he married his
first wife, a daughter of the Weg family.
After his marriage, he received semichah and
certification as a shochet, bodek and mohel
from the great geonim of that time, and began to
preside in his village. He raised five children to be
yirei Shomayim. However, his wife and all of his
children were killed during the Holocaust.
He suffered greatly during the Holocaust, but miraculously
emerged, moving to Prague, where he married Chaya Rivka,
o"h, the daughter of Rav Yisroel Moshe Farber and the
granddaughter of Reb Eliyahu Farber. In Prague, his wife
gave birth to two children, Reb Yisroel Moshe and a
daughter. Reb Tzvi Hersh aided many Holocaust survivors in
Prague, arranging marriages for widows and helping young
women find shidduchim. He also served as rav and
mohel in the Altneushul.
He later came to live in Eretz Yisroel. During the period in
which his family resided in an immigrant camp, he would
climb over barbed wire fences to visit nearby camps to
listen to divrei Torah given by Torah
personalities.
After leaving the camp, he asked the Chazon Ish where he
should live. The Chazon Ish replied: "In Bnei Brak there are
many rabbonim, but there is no rav or Torah guide in Kfar
Chaim in Emek Hefer. That is where you belong." Reb Tzvi
Hersh followed the advice of the Chazon Ish, and went to
serve as that settlement's rav and shochet. He was
mekadesh Shem Shomayim and was held in high esteem by
everyone.
In time, questions of the education of his children arose.
When he asked the Chazon Ish for advice, the Chazon Ish
blessed him that no harm would befall his children if he
remained in the village. And indeed, such was the case. He
lived in Kfar Chaim for twenty years, and later moved to
Kfar Ata.
Fifteen years ago, he moved to Yerushalayim, where he lived
with his daughter and son-in-law, Reb Yitzchok Diamant. He
would rise every day at three in the morning to study before
davening vosikin at Kever Rochel, along with the
Kollel Perushim with whom he studied. In the afternoon, he
would study and then daven mincha and ma'ariv
at Kever Shimon Hatzaddik. Despite the hardships involved,
he continued this practice until Sunday, 4 Shevat, when he
suffered a mild stroke and was brought to hospital. On
Monday night, 5 Shevat, he asked his family to help him lay
tefillin.
On Tuesday afternoon, 5 Shevat, he returned his pure soul to
his Maker, while surrounded by his daughters.
Hespedim were delivered by his son-in-law, Reb
Yitzchok Diamant; the ga'avad of Makova, HaRav Shimon
Lemberg; the ga'avad's brother, HaRav M. Lemberg;
HaRav A. Kolidtezki, a relative; and the son of the
ga'avad of Tchebin, in whose shul Rav Tzvi
davened.
He is survived by his son, Yisroel Moshe Leibowitz from the
United States, daughters from the Harris, Bloch, Diamant,
Gutman and Barenholtz families, as well as by a third and a
fourth generation, all of whom are following the path he
charted for them.
