Williamsburg Memories: Rav Yisroel Dushowitz

Already an accomplished Rav in Russia, Rav Dusowitz (born Dushowvizky) served in the American Rabbinate for half a century. An ardent Lubavitcher chossid, he merited exceptional honor from the Lubavitcher Rebbes who lived here—and he was a revered figure at the movements’ events throughout his years in America. 

Rav Yisroel was a Rov in Old Williamsburg for decades, and a valiant fighter for Yiddishkeit and Torah observance. 

Mohilev

Rav Yisroel was born in the year 1877, in the town of Mohilev, Russia, to his father Rav Shimon Yehuda Leib. His mother was Shima, whom he credited for “exerting all of her energies to place me on the path of Torah.” He would later write about his paternal grandfather, Rav Shmuel (known as ‘Rav Shmuel Ba’al Shem’): “from his youth, his future as a great Rav could be foreseen, and he was a muflag in Torah and yiras Hashem. He was sharp and learned, and possessed of a keen thought process. When he was niftar in 1902, a great crowd gathered in the center of town to escort him to his final resting place.” 

From his earliest years, Yisroel was known as “the Mohilever Iluy,” and he learned under the great Gedolim in the city of Minsk, and he also learned in the Mirer yeshiva, where he gained a reputation as a masmid and iluy. From the age of 15, his chidushim began to be published in the Torah journals of the time. In 1895 he published Mishkenos Yisroel, a work that holds Sheeilos Uteshuvos, as well as deep and complex Torah discourses. This garnered praise from the greatest gedolim of the time, including Rav Refoel Shapira of Volozhyn, Rav Chaim Berlin, the Ridbaz of Slutzk, and others. 

He married Basya Getz in the year 1898, and settled in the town of Rohachov (It is unknown whether this was the city of his wife’s residence). 

Rezitza, near Dvinsk, was a town with a sizable Jewish population, and in 1904—at the tender age of 27—Rav Dusowitz became its Rav. In the twenty years in this capacity, he grew close to the Ohr Some’ach of Dvinsk, and to the Rogachover ga’on. 

In 1924, he brought his family to America, settling in Brownsville, where he served as the Rav of Chevra Torah Anshei Radishkowitz, also known as the Amboy Street Shul. 

Williamsburg 

In 1927, he became the Rav of the magnificent Tiferes Yisroel Shul in Williamsburg (a landmark in t, a position that he held to his last days. An especially heartwarming anecdote is that in 2014, the Tiferes Yisroel shul was “redeemed” from its slumber when it was purchased by the Satmar chassidim to continue serving the spiritual needs of Williamsburg’s Jews, an apt legacy to its former leader.  

Thus began a golden era of leadership. His dignified presence graced so many gatherings, and this brilliant, elderly Rav led many initiatives. He was the Nasi of Vaad Harabanim of New York, and from the leaders of Agudas Harabanim. The aforementioned Hashabos L’kadsho was a fierce exhortation to America’s Jews to rectify the terrible chilul Shabbos, and this was only one area of his efforts to improve Torah observance in America. 

Giving a glimpse into the state of Yiddishkeit in America of that time, Rav Dusowitz writes of the Vaad Harabanim conference of the year 1935, and how he sought to introduce the idea of publicizing a ban, not only on bakeries who are operational on Shabbos, but also that meat which is transported on Shabbos—even by gentiles—should be prohibited for a Yid to consume. “This would have been important not only to make a statement against chilul Shabbos, but it is a halacha that one may not benefit from work that was done on his behalf on Shabbos. But there was one very senior Rov who came out against me in very sharp terms—accusing me of slandering kosher meat as treif. Given his seniority and his weakness, I did not respond.” 

It would be years… twenty years, until this situation would be rectified. The Torah journals of the time reported that the Agudas Hamashgichim finally reached an agreement with the union that would make it illegal to bring in meat into the butcher shops on Shabbos. 

When Rebbe Yosef Yitzchok, known as the “Frierdiker Rebbe” of Lubavitch launched Eideinu, a group to enhance Torah study, he placed Rav Dusowitz at its helm, along with Rav Nissan Telushkin and Rav Leizer Silver. 

Passing 

Upon his passing in 1956, Hapardes writes: “Avad chassid v’ga’on min ha’aretz. A talmid chacham such as Rav Yisroel is hard to find, and hard to forget—he was complete in Torah, and was familiar with every area of Torah. Love of Torah burned within him, and he dedicated his days and nights to its study. In the entire era in which he dwelt among us, he did not stop innovating in Torah, and his mind remained ever focused on the battle for Torah observance.” 

Among those who were maspid him at the large levaya, which also drew many Rabbonim from the New York area and beyond it, were: Rav Moshe Binyomin Tomashov of Brownsville, Rav Chaim Bik of the Bronx, Rav Yitzhok Bunin of Williamsburg, Rav Nisson Telushkin of Brownsville, Rav Avrohom Yitzchok Faivelson of the Lower East Side, and Rav Aaron Dovid Burack of Williamsburg, about whom we have written here. 

His children were; Ruchama, the wife of Rav Chaim Kaplan, a longtime Rov in Sea Gate, Rachel, the wife of Rav Yaakov Ber Pittem, Guta, the wife of Haga’on Rav Noach Burstein, an alter mirer, and maggid shiur at RIETS, and others—all of who continue his brilliant legacy. He is interred in the Tiferes Yisroel section at Mount Carmel Cemetery.