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Biography
Landsman Reb Fishel Danilewich
by his
grandson Dr. Yisrael Levitz
My family’s name
was Danilewich, and my grandfather whom I never knew was a melamed in the
town. He and my grandmother Zissel had eighteen children. My father of
blessed memory (number fourteen) was one of twelve children who came over
to America. The others either perished in Europe or died in childhood. My
grandfather was an ardent Zionist, and my choice to move to Israel is in
some small way a fulfillment of his lifelong dream.
Reb Fishel,
a Zembrower melamed, had roots in the nearby town of Sniadowo, Poland. He
was an excellent Hebraist and pedagogue whose students developed a firm
grasp of both Tana"kh and the fundamentals of the Gemarah.
He was among the first
Zionists in the shtetl, was a member of Chovevai Zion, and had a collegial
relationship with Rav Shmuel Molover, the early pioneer of religious
Zionism. In his old age he, his wife Zissel, and several of their children
were brought to America by one of his sons, Morris, who had already
established himself as a successful raincoat manufacturer. He moved to
Williamsburg, Brooklyn where his eldest son, Peretz, was the rav of the 5th
St. Shul. Rav Peretz, a highly respected Torah scholar, had studied in
some of the major yeshivot in Europe and was ordained by several leading
European rabbis including the famous Rabbi Michel Yechiel Epstein (Orach
Hashulchan). |
