Rabbi Moshe Feinstein

Rabbi Moshe ben David Feinstein (1895-1986) was born in Belarus.

He was one of the greatest halachic authorities of his generation, President of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis and Chairman of the Council of Torah Sages of the American Agudath Israel, and Rosh Yeshiva of Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem in New York.

He was born into the family of Rabbi David Feinstein, the rabbi of Uzda, on the day of the birth and passing of Moshe Rabbeinu - the 7th of Adar - and was therefore named after him.

He studied under his father and at the yeshivas of Slutsk, Shklov, and Mstislavl.

He studied under Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer.

After completing his studies, he was appointed rabbi of Lyuban and then of his native Uzda.

After the establishment of Soviet rule, he suffered persecution, but despite this, Rav Moshe did not cease his activities, continuing to uphold all Jewish observances in the community and throughout the surrounding area.

He was the only rabbi in Belarus at that time.

In 1936, thanks to the efforts of relatives, he received permission to emigrate to the United States. There he settled in New York and was appointed head of Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem.

From that time, the fame of this yeshiva grew, and it began attracting students from all the major Jewish communities of America.

In 1943, he took part in the "rabbis' march," which demanded a meeting with the American president and his intervention to stop the annihilation of European Jewry.

Rav Feinstein headed the Union of Orthodox Rabbis and the Council of Agudath Israel starting in the 1960s.

Many great rabbis, such as Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, Rav Yisrael Kanievsky, Rav Aharon Kotler, and others, from that time began to recognize Rav Feinstein as the outstanding rabbi of the generation.

The Rav passed away in 1986 in New York and is buried in Jerusalem on Har HaMenuchot.

May the merit of the tzadik protect Am Yisrael!