Yechezkel Levenstein

Who was Yechezkel Levenstein?

Yechezkel Levenstein, known as Reb Chatzkel, was the mashgiach ruchani of the Mir yeshiva, in Mir, Belarus and during the yeshiva's flight to Lithuania and on to Shanghai due to the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany in World War II. He was a leader of several yeshivas in Europe, America, and Israel, and raised several generations of Torah-observant Jewry. He was a disciple of Simchah Zissel Broide.

Rabbi Levenstein was born in Warsaw. His mother died when he was just five years old. He studied in the yeshiva in Łomża, where he was imbued with mussar, then in Raduń Yeshiva under the Chofetz Chaim and the famous mashgiach Rav Yeruchom Levovitz, and finally in Kelm.