Shepherds of the Community
Parnassim and Public Servants

Introduction

From the title above, the reader will realize that we are only talking here about rabbis, judges, etc. who served in our city throughout the latter three generations. That is to say: those whom members of the generation previous to ours would have been able, or actually did, know personally. The words of this chapter were written by natives of our town, based on their own personal knowledge. Of course, there were rabbis in Sanok prior to those that will be discussed here. Some of them were men of renown and famous Torah giants, but we know nothing more about them other than their names and general information about their residency in our city. We do not know details about the character or style of their rabbinical tenure for there was no set, crystallized form with respect to the bounds of the use of the title of “rabbi”, or the connection of this term to an actual tenure of service in this role.

On the other hand, very reliable sources exist stating that there were rabbis in various cities throughout Galicia and Poland who served in specific rabbinical roles in our city prior to this period. For example, we can read on the title page of the book “Commentary on the Scroll of Ruth” by Rabbi Ovadia Bartenura, the Bone Yerushalayim edition (5649 / 1889), that is exactly 80 yeas ago: “… And I brought it to publication for a second time, I the young one, Zeev Wolf the son of Rabbi Yissachar Berish Heller of holy blessed memory who sat on the seat of judgment in the holy community of Dobromyl and the holy community of Sanok, and is buried in honor in the holy city of Tzefat may it be built up.” This is referring to an actual rabbinical tenure (“sitting on the seat of judgment”) of a rabbi in Sanok who was active more than 100 years ago, at least.

Here is a more concrete example: The writer of the book “Doresh Chamorot” writes in the title page of his book, after describing the benefits of the book: “This book was written by me, the young Yitzchak Hebenstreit… the descendent of Rabbi Hai Gaon, and the Gaonim Rabashkav”a Kekeshe”t^[1] the Admor Rabbi Yisrael Hebenstreit of holy blessed memory, the head of the rabbinical court of Sanok, who was called by everyone Rabbi Yisrael Charif, may his merit protect us, aki”a.

There is no shortage of sources such as these, or similar to these, without any details about these personalities. Therefore, we will open our chapter with a rabbi about whom our knowledge comes from a more detailed source, and whose time of tenure in Sanok was closer to ours. He is:

Rabbi Yechiel Kuehl

Prior to coming to Sanok, he served as the rabbi of Nowotanice, today a suburb of Sanok but then a town with a Jewish population that maintained a rabbi. We do not know if he was accepted as an official rabbi in Sanok, but we can establish beyond any doubt that the era of his life in Sanok was a continuation of those manifestations and influences that flowed forth from his rabbinic personality, as a rabbi and teacher of Jewish law for those Jews of Sanok who came to consult with him, as well as a leader of the religious community. We find conclusive evidence for our hypothesis in the words of Reb Avraham Arom, the publisher and editor of the composition of Rabbi Yechiel “Zichron Yechiel” in his introduction to that book. The words, which he certainly heard from the mouths of people who personally knew Rabbi Yechiel, and perhaps even his great rabbi Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Schapira of Dynow, are reliable to us, since they are not too distant – for the time between the death of Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Schapira (who died in 5601 / 1941) and the publishing of the Zichron Yechiel book was not more than 53 years. (It is unfortunate that despite this, we were not able to obtain from his descendents, either in the Diaspora or those with us in the Land – the family of Reb Menachem Mani Kuehl – any


[Page 86]


additional details about him from the time he lived in Nowotanice or later after he moved to Sanok.) Reb Avraham Arom wrote on the page opposite the title page of “Zichron Yechiel”, the photocopy of which we include here:

“… Behold I bring before you today a blessing, a book small in size and large in quality. For his words are pleasant and sweet. He was the veteran student, both in the hidden and revealed Torah^[2], of our holy Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Schapira of Dynow of holy blessed memory. When he was still a lad (it seems to be he was about 20), our holy rabbi stated the following about him: 'My Yechiel is permitted to discuss Torah in front of 500 people of Israel.' He wrote great compositions of significant value. However some of them were lost in the large flood that took place when he was the head of the rabbinical court of Terjiwa, and others were burnt during the great fire in Sanok. All that is left are those booklets that were copied from the great compositions of his youth. Since this rabbi and author was a relative on my father's side, I took it upon myself to correct the errors in transcription, to fill in what was missing, and to bring it to print, so that he would have a remnant on earth and so his lips can move in the grave. It was not necessary to obtain approbations for this book, for everyone knows that this rabbi, aside from pouring water on the hands of the aforementioned holy Gaon, also served all of the great Tzadikim during his days. All of them drew him nigh with their right hands and bestowed of their grace upon him…”

The book Zichron Yechiel Of the rabbi, Tzadik and Kabbalist, our rabbi Yechiel of blessed memory who was The head of the rabbinical court of the communities of Terjiwa and Nowotanice And who was accepted as the rabbi of Sanok in his old age With great honor for those living there. There he rests in honor Under his canopy. May his soul be bound in the bonds of eternal life Brought to print by the great Hassid Avraham Arom, may his light shine, Of the community of Przemysl Zupnik Knoller Printers and Hamerschmid, in Przemysl 5654 (1894) The prohibition of copying is known And the laws of the earth are like the laws of the heavens

__________

  Sanok, Poland     Yizkor Book Project     JewishGen Home Page

Copyright © 1999-2011 by JewishGen, Inc.
Updated 4 Sep 2011 by MGH