Yehuda Leib Tsirelson

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Yehuda Leib Tsirelson(1859, Kozelets, Chernihiv Oblast - 1941, Kishinev, Soviet Union) -Chief Rabbi of Bessarabia, member of Romanian parliament, prominent Jewish leader and posek.

[edit] Biography

Yehuda Leib was born in 1859 to rabbi of Kozelets Moishe Khayim. At very young age he was considered a prodigy and when reaching 19 became rabbi at Priluki. During that time he began writing to various periodicals in Hebrew, Yiddish and Russian. His articles dealt mainly with Jewish outgoing issues, mainly political. In 1898 he has participated in the first all-Russian Zionist conference in Warsaw. At the first time he has supported Mizrakhi movement and required from secular Zionist letting to religious delegates decide upon educational programs of the whole Zionist movement, but later he was disappointed in religious and secular Zionism as well and finally left the movement becoming less moderate.

In 1908 he was appointed chief official and religious rabbi of Kishinev. In 1911 he was one of subscribers in the letter of 300 Russian prominent rabbis against antisemitic case of Beilis affair. The same year he received the title of honorable citizen of Russian empire. In 1912 he was among core Jewish leaders and rabbis who laid the foundation to Agudat Israel movement. In 1918 Bessarabia became part of Romania and R. Tsirelson was nominated chief rabbi of the whole Bessarabia. Since this time he has developed there Jewish educational system, beginning from kindergarten and ending with high yeshiva. Many prominent rabbis, including future rebbes of Rybnitza and Bohush studied in his yeshiva. After Soviet Union collapse the new Kishinev yeshiva was established in the building of the old one. In 1920 having enough knowledge of Romanian language he was elected to represent Jews of Bessarabia in the Parliament of Romania in Bucharest. In 1922 he became the only Bessarabian Jewish representative in the parliament. While the antisemitism in Romania was strongly growing r.Tsirelson tried to warn against it in the parliament, but the delegates refused to publish his speeches in the parliament periodical. As a result of it r.Tsirelson resisgned from parliament in 1926. In 1920 he established Agudat Israel branch in Kishinev, which later became autonomous. He chaired 2 of Agudat Israel councils in 1923 and 1929. In 1923 strongly supported Meir Shapiro idea of Daf Yomi. After Soviet annexation of Bessarabia he was baited by communist backed newspapers as anti-soviet agent. He died according to most famous version in June 25 1941 during first bombardment of Kishinev by German forces. Most of his works were published after his death in Israel and in the United States. Many streets in Israeli big cities like Tel-Aviv and Bnei Braq bear his name. His great-nephew is famous Israeli mathematician Boris Tsirelson.