Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz רבי חיים שמואלביץ
rosh yeshiva of Mir in Shanghai and in Jerusalem; Sichos Mussar
Shanghai. At the end of 5701 he and hundreds of students received visas from the Japanese consul Chiune Sugihara and passed through Siberia and Vladivostok into Japan. From Kobe the yeshiva moved to Shanghai and lived there five years. He headed it throughout—from 5701 to 5707.
He refused American visas for himself and his family until every student had received one.
Jerusalem. In 5707 he came to the Land of Israel and spent here the last thirty-two years of his life. From 5725 until his death he headed the Mir yeshiva in Jerusalem.
Sichos Mussar. His talks. He spoke not about rules of conduct but about what happens inside a person—and spoke so that what was written down was read afterwards by those who had never heard him.
He died on 3 Tevet 5739—2 January 1979.
On the timeline
Places
Related
Sources
Acharonim and later rabbinic literature
- Sichos Mussar — his talks, written down by his students
Scholarship
- Encyclopaedia Judaica, “Shmuelevitz, Ḥayyim” — the years, Shanghai, the headship of Mir in Jerusalem
Basis: documents and evidence.