Chaim Elazar Spira
{{Short description|Rebbe of the Hasidic Munkacs dynasty (1868–1937)}}
{{Infobox rebbe
|title = Munkacser Rebbe
|image = Pestrý týden, 1937-05-22, Lazar Spira.jpg
|caption = Spira in 1937.
| began = 1913
| ended = 1937
|birth_name = Chaim Elazar Spira
|main_work = Minchas Elozor
|predecessor = Tzvi Hirsch Spirait says so on his monument (shown below)
|successor = Baruch Yehoshua Yerachmiel Rabinovich
|spouse = Rochel Perl, daughter of Yakov Moshe Safrin of Komarno
|children = Chaya Fruma ("Frima") Rifka Spira
|dynasty = Munkacz
|father = Tzvi Hirsch Spira of Munkacz
|mother = Esther, daughter of Chanina Horowitz of Ulanów
|birth_date = December 17, 1868
|birth_place = Strzyżów, Austria-Hungary
|date of death = May 13, 1937
|place of death = Mukachevo
|date of burial = May 13, 1937
|place of burial = Mukachevo, Czechoslovakia
|}}
Chaim Elazar Spira (December 17, 1868 – May 13, 1937),{{cite book
|title=A Tapestry of Stars |pages=343–352
|author=C. B. Weinfeld |date=2017 |publisher=Shaar Press
|isbn=978-1-4226-1902-5}} also known as the Minchas Elazar after his magnum opus, was a rebbe of the Hasidic Munkacs dynasty.{{cite web
|title=Munkatsh Hasidic Dynasty
|url=http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Munkatsh_Hasidic_Dynasty}}
Family background
Spira was born in Strzyżów, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary, now part of Poland, where his grandfather, Shlomo Spira, was a rabbi. Chaim Elazar's father, Tzvi Hersh Spira, was from Spira family which had held rabbinical positions in Munkács dating back to the founder of the Munkács Hasidic dynasty, Tzvi Elimelech Spira of Dinov (Bnei Yisoschor),Note spelling Shapira. {{cite web |title=Chassidic Rebbe Biographies |website=AscentOfSafed.com
|url=http://ascentofsafed.com/cgi-bin/ascent.cgi?Name=rebbeBios
|quote=Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Shapira of Dinov (1785 - 18 Teves, 1841), a renowned ...}} who was Chief Rabbi from 1828 to 1832.
Spira became Chief Justice of the Rabbinical Court in Munkács in 1903, where he worked along with his father until the latter died in 1913. He succeeded his father as Chief Rabbi of Munkács and the surrounding communities.{{cite web
|title=Rabbi Chaim Elazar Shapira |website=YadVashem.org
|quote=... chief rabbi and head of the Beit Din ... with the passing of his father, ... 1913, Chaim Elazar ...
|url=https://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/communities/munkacs/rabbi_shapira.asp}}
Biography
Spira wrote and published over twenty books on the Jewish law, Torah, Hasidism, and religious philosophy and customs including the six-volume Minchas Elazar. He opposed political Zionism and the Agudat Yisrael.{{Cite book
|title=The World of Hasidism |author=H. Rabinowicz |page=170 |year=1970
|isbn=978-0-87677-005-4 |publisher=Hartmore House}}{{cite journal
|journal=Modern Judaism |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=233–264
|author=Al Nadler |date=1994
|title=The War on Modernity of R. Hayyim Elazar Shapira of Munkacz
|quote=... by the ultra-conservative hasidic Rabbi of Munkacz ... Shapira ... Zionist .. perceived .. greater threats to ...
|jstor=1396352 |doi=10.1093/mj/14.3.233}}
Spira established elementary schools under the name "Machzike Torah."{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}
He founded a yeshiva (rabbinical college) in Munkacs, named Darchei Tshuva, after the title of his father's sefer (book).{{cite web
|title=Esther Spira |website=MyHeritage.com
|quote=Zvi Hirsh Spira (Darchei Tshuva). ... one son: Chaim Elazar Spira (Minchas Elazar).
|url=https://www.myheritage.com/names/esther_spira}}
Journey to Jerusalem
In 1930, Spira visited Mandatory Palestine for a thirteen-day trip to visit the elderly kabbalist Solomon Eliezer Alfandari (known as the Saba Kadisha, "Holy Grandfather") and also to visit with his followers in Palestine.
He met with Alfandari for long hours behind closed doors over the span of a week. While Spira was in Jerusalem, Alfandari died.
Details of the trip were recorded in a book written by a disciple of Spira's, Moshe Goldstein, who was one of those accompanying the Rebbe on his trip. The book was reprinted several times in Hebrew and Yiddish, and was translated to English in 2009 by Artscroll Publications.{{cite book
|publisher=Artscroll Mesorah Publications |date=2009 |author=Moshe Goldstein
|title=Journey to Jerusalem: The Historic Visit of the Minchas Eluzar of Munkacs Zt'l to the Saba Kadisha Zt'l
|isbn=978-1422608876}}
Wedding of daughter in 1933
Spira's only daughter,
Chaya Fruma Rivka (known as Frima), married Baruch Yehoshua Yerachmiel Rabinowicz in Munkács on March 15, 1933.{{cite magazine
|magazine=Mishpacha
|date=June 6, 2012
|url=http://www.mishpacha.com/Browse/Article/2136/Munkaczs-Nine-Minutes-of-Fame
|quote=... the wedding of the Minchas Elazar's only daughter, Chaya Fruma Rivka 17 Adar – March 15, 1933
|title=Munkacz's Nine Minutes of Fame
|access-date=November 7, 2018
|archive-date=January 15, 2018
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180115180310/http://www.mishpacha.com/Browse/Article/2136/Munkaczs-Nine-Minutes-of-Fame
|url-status=dead
}}
Over 20,000 guests attended the wedding.{{cite web |title=A Jewish Community in the Carpathian Mountains- The Story of ...
|quote=... from across Europe and overseas for the wedding ... of Rabbi Baruch Rabinowitz and Chaya Frima
|url=https://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/communities/munkacs/rabbi_rabinowitz.asp}} According to the daily newspaper Rudý večerník, "The wedding lasted for seven days."
Legacy
Spira died in 1937 and was succeeded as Chief Rabbi by his son-in-law Baruch Yehoshua Yerachmiel Rabinowicz, Spira's only daughter Frima's husband, who was chief rabbi until the Nazi occupation of Munkács in 1944.{{cite web
|title=Rabbi Moshe Yehuda Leib Rabinowitz Munkatch Rebbe
|date=25 December 1940
|quote=R' Baruch Joshua Jerachmeel Rabinovitch served as ... in 1937 until the Nazis occupied Munkacs in 1944.
|url=https://www.geni.com/people/Rabbi-Moshe-Rabinowitz-Munkatch-Rebbe/6000000002802652268}}
= Successor =
File:Munkacs World Headquarters in Boro Park, Brooklyn.jpg
The Munkacs Hasidic dynasty is led by his grandson, Moshe Leib Rabinovich, who lives in Brooklyn.
==Israel==
Batei Munkacs, the Israeli residential neighborhood founded by Spira,{{cite web
|title=A Letter from the Admor author of 'Minchat Elazar' of Munkacs
|url=https://winners-auctions.com/en/node/10853
|date=March 27, 2017
|quote=... and established the Batei Munkacs neighborhood.
|access-date=November 7, 2018
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181108065657/https://winners-auctions.com/en/node/10853
|archive-date=November 8, 2018
|url-status=dead
}} draws tourists.{{cite web
|url=https://moovitapp.com/index/en/public_transit-Batei_Munkacs-Israel-site_44671959-1
|quote=find the best routes to Batei Munkacs using public transit... updated schedule... bus
|title=How to get to Batei Munkacs in Israel by Bus|date=6 August 2023
}}
{{clear}}
References
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
Further reading
- {{cite book|title=Journey to Jerusalem|author= Goldstein, Moshe|publisher=ArtScroll|isbn=978-1-4226-0887-6|date= 2009-01-01}}
- Aviezer Ravitzky, "Munkacs and Jerusalem: Ultra-Orthodox Opposition to Zionism and Agudaism," Zionism and Religion, eds. Shmuel Almog, Jehuda Reinharz, and Anita Shapira (Hanover and London, 1998), 67–89. {{ISBN|0-87451-882-2}}
External links
- [http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/communities/munkacs/rabbi_shapira.asp?WT.mc_id=wiki Rabbi Chaim Elazar Shapira – the Munkaczer Rebbe - A Jewish Community in the Carpathian Mountains- The Story of Munkács]
- [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1622609518319953327&pr=goog-sl Video of the wedding of Chaya Frima Rivka Spira - daughter of Rabbi Chaim Elazar to Rabbi Baruch Rabinovich]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spira, Chaim Elazar}}
Category:20th-century Russian rabbis
Category:Anti-Zionist Hasidic rabbis
Category:Hungarian Orthodox rabbis
Category:People from Strzyżów County
Category:Polish Hasidic rabbis
Category:Rabbis from Galicia (Eastern Europe)