Avraham Yoffen
Avraham Yoffen (or Jofen; 1887 - April 19, 1970), also known as "Avraham Pinsker"{{cite web
|url=http://www.hevratpinto.org/tzadikim_eng/157_rabbi_avraham_yoffen.html
|title=Rabbi Avraham Yoffen - The Director of the Novardok Yeshivot}}meaning of Pinsk: born near Pinsk, studied a while in Pinsk was a rabbi, son-in-law to Yosef Yozel Horowitz, the Alter of Novardok and director of Novardok Yeshiva. He fled to the U.S. at the outbreak of World War II and opened a yeshiva in Borough Park. In 1962 he moved to and founded a kollel in Jerusalem.{{cite web |website=Torah.org |title=What Is Wisdom?
|date=31 March 2017
|quote=rosh yeshiva of the Novardok Yeshiva in Bialystok, Poland; New York and Yerushalayim
|url=https://torah.org/torah-portion/hamaayan-5777-vayikra}}
Bais Yosef yeshiva
Yoffen supervised a network of satellite yeshivas in pre-World War II Poland and Ukraine, all named Yeshiva Bais Yosef. He used this name for the yeshiva he founded
in Borough Park.{{cite web
|url=http://www.breslov.com/world/biographies.html
|title=Rabbi Nachman of Breslov z"tl
|quote=..Avraham Yoffen, dean of the Bais Yosef yeshiva in Europe and America.}}
In Europe, for a while, Yoffen had the assistance of Rabbi Gershon Liebman.
Biography
Yoffen was arrested by the Russian government{{cite book
|title=Wisdom & Wit: A Sparkling Treasury of Jewish Anecdotes and Advice
|url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1578193869 |isbn=1578193869
|author=Shmuel Himelstein |date=2003
|quote=... they arrested R' Avraham Yoffen, ...}} in 1921, along with some of his students. Two years later he went back to Poland.
He was buried on Har HaMenuchot among numerous famous rabbis.
=Notable students=
- Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky, the Steipler{{cite web
|title=Letters from Rabbis |date=July 9, 2018
|url=http://www.moreshet-auctions.com/letters-from-rabbis-7?pagenumber=4
|quote=Rabbi Avraham Yoffen Rosh Yeshiva of Novardok and rabbi of the 'Steipler'.}}
- Zvi Aryeh Rosenfeld, Breslov mashpia (spiritual mentor) in America, who was a chavrusa of the son of the rosh yeshiva, Rav Yaakov Yoffen, and was one of only five students to receive Semichah directly from Rav Yoffen after completing Shas twice at age 23.{{cite journal|url=http://www.mishpacha.com/Browse/Article/11447/Like-His-Own-Children|title=Like His Own Children|first=Sharon|last=Gelbach|date=November 14, 2018|accessdate=February 16, 2019|journal=Mishpacha|issue=735}}{{Dead link|date=June 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
References
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Category:Burials at Har HaMenuchot
Category:People from Pinsk district
Category:20th-century Russian rabbis
Category:20th-century American rabbis
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