"With the blessings and encouragement of gedolei haTorah, roshei yeshiva and esteemed rabbis, I hereby humbly assume the cloak of the rabbinate for the State of Belarus, a country which engendered and was home to hundreds of Torah leaders, spiritual giants, Admorim and rabbonim, past and present. I hope to do all that is required to promote, increase and enhance Torah, to establish more institutions of Torah and education, to cohere the communities and to hopefully restore the former glory of this country." These were the words of Rav Tzvi Bichman upon his instatement as chief rabbi of Belarus.
Seventeen communities, members of the United Council of Jewish Communities of Belarus, a country which boasted Jews as one sixth of its population in the beginning of the 20th century, voted in Rav Bichman unanimously to serve as their chief rabbi.
With his induction into office, Rav Bichman went to receive the blessings of Torah leadership: HaRav Aharon Leib Shteinman; HaRav Chaim Kanievsky, the roshei yeshiva of Slobodka Yeshiva HaRav Moshe Hillel Hirsch and HaRav Dov Landau, and others.
The president of the Council of European Rabbis (of which Rav Bichman is a member), Rav Pinchos Goldshmidt, and the rabbinical administrator of the Council, Rav Moshe Lebel, Rosh Yeshivas Toras Chaim where Rav Bichman studied, blessed the new chief rabbi upon his installation and promised that the Council would stand by his side and help him uplift the crown of Torah by establishing new Torah institutions and upgrading the Jewish communities throughout Belarus.
