Iconic Williamsburg: Rav Aharon Dovid Burack

One of the most important Rabbonim in America of his time, a truly brilliant Rav and marzbitz Torah, Rav Aharon Dovid Burack bears an indelible impact on American Torah Jewry to this day. In addition to this harbotzas Torah at RIETS, he was the Rov of Ohel Moshe Chevra Tehillim for four decades, and ultimately returned his soul to its Maker at its podium, as he delivered a deroshoh.  

He was born in Papilė (Popilan), Kovno, near Shavel and learned in the yeshivos of Telshe and Slobodka, where he received semichah. 

But the bliss which he was experiencing in the glow of the Gedolim of yore, was not to last. As WWI was approaching, he was drafted to the army. His father, who was then a Rav in Africa, did everything possible to get him out of Russia, and with great nissim he made it to Memel, Germany, where he learned with great hasmadah among the great talmidei chachamim of that city.

From there he escaped to America States in 1914. Upon arriving, he gave a droshoh at Eitz Chaim Anshe Volozhin in the Lower East Side, and they immediately appointed him as their rov. Simultaneously, he was asked to teach at RIETS, and after the appointment of Rabbi Dr. Dov Revel, he was also appointed as one of the Roshei Yeshivah. 

In 1918, he married Esther, the daughter of Rav Eliyahu Inselbuch, one of America’s most senior and prominent Rabbonim. 

In 1924, at the urging of Rabbi Meir Berlin, zt”l, he accepted the leadership of the newly-formed Congregation Ohel Moshe Chevrah Tehillim, (then located on Willoughby Avenue at Thompkins street, in Brooklyn). He would draw packed crowds to the deroshos in the grand temple. Sadly, a large fire broke out in the beautiful shul not long after it had been inaugurated, and newspaper accounts report on how the Rov and his mispalelim bravely ran into the flames to rescue the sifrei Torah. 

After 30 years of a beloved tenure, they awarded the Rav lifetime rabbanus. Many congregations have learned from them how to show respect to their leaders—rather that to give them appointments for two years at a time. 

Hobby: “Teaching and Learning”

On a bio questionnaire on file at RIETS, Rabbi Burack answers the question of “what is your hobby”, with “Teaching and learning. Indeed, this was his life’s work; he loved teaching Torah, and his oratory was legendary and inspiring. 

He would later write: “In this time I have also been privileged to produce hundreds of talmidim in the yeshivah hakedoshah. Many of them are prominent rabbanim throughout the United States, others are rebbeim and marbitzei Torah, and yet others are lay leaders who are yirei Hashem. 

He was also prominent in Agudas Harabanim: On the avodas haklal front, Rav Burack recalls: “Immediately upon coming to the United States, I was asked by Rav Yisroel Rosenberg to join the board of Agudas Harabanim, and for about ten years I have been one of its Vice Presidents. On photographs from the march of the hundreds of Rabbonim to Washington in 1943, we see Rabbi Burack on the steps, near the leaders, and he was the one who served as a translator for Rav Eliezer Silver’s passionate petition in Yiddish. 

Rabbi Burack published his writings in many Torah journals. He also authored the sefer Pirchei Aharon, a two-volume work on halachah and aggadah, published in New York in 5714. He was a leading figure in the Agudas HaRabbonim and Mizrachi, and particularly distinguished for his flowery and fiery oratory which greatly inspired his audiences. 

Rabbi Burack was presiding over the davening on the Friday, the second day of Sukkos, when he suffered a heart attack, and passed away—in the midst of doing his life’s work; leading and teaching the Jewish People—following close to half a century of avodas hakodesh in New York.