Shlomo Sztencl

Rabbi
Shlomo Sztencl
Chief Rabbi of Czeladź, Poland
Rav of Sosnowiec, Poland
Personal life
Born
Shlomo Sztencl

(1884-08-16)August 16, 1884
Czeladź, Poland
DiedAugust 31, 1919(1919-08-31) (aged 35)
NationalityPolish
SpouseMiriam Bayla Zweigenhaft
ChildrenYonah Sztencl
Ester Sztencl
Parent(s)Rabbi Chaim Dov Sztencl
Freidel Genendel Shweitzer
Religious life
ReligionJudaism
DenominationOrthodox

Shlomo Sztencl (Hebrew: שלמה שטנצל, pronounced [ˈʃlomo ˈʃtentsel]; August 16, 1884 – August 31, 1919) was a Polish Orthodox Jewish rabbi. He served as Chief Rabbi of Czeladź, Poland and Rav, dayan, and rosh yeshiva of Sosnowiec, Poland. He is the author of Koheles Shlomo[1] and Beis Shlomo, the former published posthumously.

Family background

Sztencl was born on 16 August 1884 (25 Av 5644) in Czeladź, Poland[2] to Chaim Dov (Berish) Sztencl of Czeladź, a Radomsker hasidic rabbi.

Sztencl had one brother, the Yiddish poet Avraham Nochum, and two sisters, Esther and Tsime.[3][4]

Biography

Front cover of Torah Novellae of the Genius From Sosnowiec, comprising Sztencl's two works, Beis Shlomo and Koheles Shlomo.
Chaim Kanievsky looking at the book

In 1897, several months before his bar mitzvah, Shlomo traveled to Berzeznitz to study with its Chief Rabbi, Yaakov Yosef HaCohen Rabinovitch, author of Emes LeYaakov.[5] Several months later, when Rabinovitch was appointed Chief Rabbi of Klabotsk, he took Sztencl with him. After for a year and a half, Shlomo returned to the yeshiva of Amstov to study for another year. In the winter of 5661 (1900–1901), he studied with Avrohom Bornsztain for six months. In the summer of 1901 he returned home to Czeladź.[6]

Several days after his eighteenth birthday in 1902, Sztencl married Miriam Bayla, daughter of Rabbi Efraim Mordechai Mottel Zweigenhaft.[6] Following his marriage, Sztencl began writing a diary, in which he kept a cheshbon hanefesh (lit. "soul-reckoning"),[7] which was discovered only after his death.[6]

At the age of 21 Sztencl became rabbi of Czeladź.[6] Four years later he moved to Sosnowiec and was appointed rabbi and dayan (religious judge). He also led a yeshiva.[8]

Sztencl died on August 31, 1919 (5 Elul 5679)[9] at the age of 35.

Family

Sztencl is the father of Yonah Sztencl and of Ester (1913-1943), the wife of Shlomo Zev Zweigenhaft.[10]

Works

Sztencl's father collected and prepared his son's writings for publication. The manuscript was then divided into two books: Koheles Shlomo and Beis Shlomo. The former was published in 1932 and reprinted in 1973 by his Israeli descendants.[3] In 2013 Beis Shlomo was published for the first time in one volume together with Koheles Shlomo in Jerusalem. The book was entitled Chidushei Hagaon M'sosnovitz (Novelle of the Genius of Sosnowiec).[11][12]

References

  1. ^ שטנצל, שלמה בן חיים דב, 1884-1919. "Sefer Detail: קהלת שלמה - שטנצל, שלמה בן חיים דב, 1884-1919". Hebrewbooks.org. Retrieved 2013-08-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ שטנצל, שלמה בן חיים דב, 1884-1919. "Preface to Koheles Shlomo". Hebrewbooks.org. Retrieved 2013-08-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ a b Greenbaum, Avraham (19 August 2007). "To My Wise and Understanding Son: Avrom-Nokhem Shtensl's Letters from Poland to Germany, 1922-1934". The Mendele Review: Yiddish Literature and Language (186).
  4. ^ Leftwich, Joseph (1939). The Golden Peacock: An anthology of Yiddish poetry translated into English verse. R. Anscombe. p. 665.
  5. ^ רבי יעקב יוסף הכהן רבינוביץ (1908). "Sefer Detail: אמת ליעקב - רבי יעקב יוסף הכהן רבינוביץ". Hebrewbooks.org. Retrieved 2013-08-22.
  6. ^ a b c d "תולדות חייו של הגאון מסוסנוביץ רבי שלמה שטנצל" [Biography of the Genius from Sosnowiec, Rabbi Shlomo Sztencl] (in Hebrew). tapuz.co.il. 26 July 2012. Archived from the original on 16 January 2014. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  7. ^ שטנצל, שלמה בן חיים דב, 1884-1919 (1932). "Introduction to Koheles Shlomo". Hebrewbooks.org. Retrieved 21 February 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ Gashury, Me'ir Shymon (1974). The Book of Sosnowiec and the Surrounding Region in Zagłębie. Vol. 1. Tel Aviv: Sosnowiec Societies in Israel and the United States, France and other countries. p. 142.
  9. ^ Shmuel Aharon Pardes, ed. (1919). "נאד של דמעות" [Flask of Tears]. Ha-Pardes (Hebrew, הפרדס) (in Hebrew). 2 (4). Piotrków: 34. LCCN 75643728.
  10. ^ Chidushei Hagaon M'sosnovitz, Jerusalem 2013 (Hebrew) page 18
  11. ^ http://rotter.name/kolot/prime/39697.php (retrieved December 2013)
  12. ^ http://seforim.blogspot.com/2013/10/new-seforim.html (retrieved December 2013
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