Petirah of Rabbi Berel Wein ZT”L, Renowned Historian, Author, and Rav, at 91

YWN regrets to inform you of the petirah of Rabbi Berel Wein ZT”L. He was 91.

The levaya will take place Sunday morning at 9:30 a.m. at Beis Knesset Hanassi in Jerusalem. Kevurah will be on Har HaZeisim.

Rabbi Wein was born in Chicago into a family descended from Lithuanian rabbanim. After working as a successful attorney in Chicago, he left the legal field in 1964 to assume the pulpit of Beth Israel Congregation in Miami Beach, Florida, where he served until 1972.

In 1973, he became the Rav of Congregation Bais Torah in Monsey (Suffern), New York, where he remained for 24 years. During that time, he also served as Executive Vice President of the Orthodox Union (OU) and as Rabbinic Administrator of the OU Kashrus Division.

In 1977, Rabbi Wein founded Yeshiva Shaarei Torah in Suffern, which grew into a major yeshiva with both high school and post-high school divisions. He served as its Rosh Yeshiva until 1997.

That year, Rabbi Wein and his wife moved to Jerusalem, where he continued teaching and writing. In 2002, he was invited to become Mora D’asra of Beit Knesset Hanassi.

Rabbi Wein authored numerous seforim and English-language works, including Chikrei Halacha (1976) and Iyunim B’Masechtos HaTalmud (1989). He became world-renowned for his Torah teachings and his many historical writings, lectures, and recordings, which inspired countless Jews across the globe.

Baruch Dayan Ha’emes.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

9 Responses

  1. Rabbi Berel Wein said:

    “It has been well established in Jewish tradition that Jews who are killed simply because they are Jews are considered holy martyrs, no matter what the[ir] level of their religious observance in their lifetime[s].”

    SOURCE: www dot TheYeshivaWorld dot com * 2016 January 7

  2. A truly great man, a Gadol BaTorah in its truest sense. A person who had a broad view of Torah and Klal Yisrael. I would say irreplaceable. BDE

  3. A tremendous loss for the Jewish people! He was an amazing asset to the frum world on every level. A great Talmid Chochom, lamdan, posek, amazing orator (hundreds of lectures in his history series), phenomenal historian. He authored about thirty beautifully written books on history and other topics, as well as five seforim in Hebrew. He began as a lawyer, than became a rav in Chicago, and then Miami, where the Ponovezher Rav would often meet him, and even the old Satmarer Rav zatzal visited him in his house and used the mikveh he built there. He then moved to Monsey, as New York area offered better schools for his daughters and opened an immensely popular shul there, as well as heading a Yeshiva for many years there. Finally, he moved to Eretz Yisrael about 30 years ago and was a popular Rav in Rechavyah. An irreplaceable Jewish treasure who always viewed the world with an optimistic lens has gone to a better world and leaves us in tears. A grateful adherent from Lakewood NJ who never had the opportunity to meet you. yehi zichro baruch

  4. Please consider editing your headline – Rav Wein zt”l was first and foremost a Rav and Rebbe. That should go before “historian and author”

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