Iconic Williamsburg: Rav Yechezkel Moskowitz

A while back we mentioned a rov by the name of Rav Avrohom Halevi Sochen, who served as the rov of Adas Bnei Yisroel Shomrei Shabbos, located at the corner of Marcy Avenue and Park Avenue. Rav Sochen served as the rov of the shul from around 1931, until his passing in 1942. 

From Shul records, we glean that the first Rabbi of the Shul, from 1907-1912, was Rabbi Menachem Mendel Rizikow (whom we shall profile another day), and today we learn about Rav Yechezkel Moskowitz of Grodno, who was forced away from a life of Torah and chessed back home, and served as the leader of the shul during the 1920’s. 

A Rosh Yeshiva in Grodno 

Rav Yechezkel was born in the tiny hamlet of Dąbrowa (Dubreve), outside the great city of Grodno. His father was Rav Moshe Aaron and his mother was Freida Esther. About his father, he later wrote: “He would learn for days and nights, and did not cease from his learning for forty years, despite a debilitating illness.”  

He credited his mother who sacrificed to support her husband in learning, “and raised her children for a life of Torah—meriting to give birth to my beloved brother, Rav Yehoshua M’Horodna  who is now in the city of Minsk.” 

One friend from his days in Grodno, with whom he would reunite on Ameircan shores, was none other than Rav Velvele Morgolies of Grodno, the son-in-law of Rav Nachum’ke Horodner of the city, about whom we will read more later. Rav Velevel would later write about his friend from youth, “as it has become clear to me over the years, all his words are built upon the foundations of truth and fairness.” 

While not much is known about his childhood, he later wrote, “from my youth until my old age, I have spent my time in the beis hamedrash, learning the Torah of Hashem.” 

He married Rochel, the daughter of Reb Shmuel Reuven Halevi Lubitch, and they settled in Grodno, where nine children were born to them. 

Williamsburg 

At the time of the printing of his sefer Yad Yechezkel, he was stricken with an illness, which, he wrote brought him much pain and suffering: “It has now been three years since Hashem has afflicted me with terrible pain, as Dovid Hamelech says, yasor yisrani Hashem, and my pain has not ceased even for a moment. Thankfully, I do not reject these yisurim, and as long as I am able to accept them with love, for Hashem is just in all His ways. For seven weeks, I have been confined to my sickbed, and during my illness I have encountered Rav Aaron Dovid Burack and related to him some of my chiddushim, and he remarked that they are wonderful. Rav Velvele Margolies has also seen them and praised them. Therefore, I have taken the courage to commit them to writing.” 

Another insight into the life that Rav Yechezkel led Williamsburg comes, once again, from his son’s autobiography, describing the time that his son was deployed to Japan during WWII: “Myron, marching with the First Cavalry Division all the way to Tokyo, had many narrow escapes from being felled on the battlefield. But it all turned out so wonderful with him coming home now without a scratch. 

“In one of the letters home he stated, ‘I felt the angel of heaven will protect me and always be by m side, for I instructed the army to send five dollars of my weekly pay to Zaidie and Bobe in New York , and I always saw them praying for me and I knew they were holy persons.” 

Shortly after these words were written, on the 21st of Kislev, 1944, Rav Yechezkel Moskowitz left this world, following a lifetime steeped in Torah—serving as a bridge from Grodno to Williamsburg of yore.