| Magazine Feature |

A Bond Sealed in Blood

By Dovi Safier | September 23, 2020

Of the 24 students of the Slabodka yeshivah murdered in the Chevron massacre, eight of them were Americans. This is their story

They were the first group of American yeshivah bochurim to go learn in Eretz Yisrael, but this wasn’t exactly the chavayah that yeshivah and seminary students seek out when they come to Israel nowadays. It was the 1920s, and, thirsting for an authentic Torah experience, they traveled to the dusty, ancient holy city of Chevron from cities as far as Seattle, Memphis, Philadelphia, and Chicago, an often-harrowing voyage on the various trains, ships, and even donkeys required to transport them to their final destination. It was a journey back to another era, to connect with a timeless legacy.

There were several dozen of these “Yankees,” with names like Benny and Dave and Billy and Jackie, who joined together with the lions of Slabodka after the yeshivah moved from Lithuania to Eretz Yisrael in 1924. Their European-born counterparts were seasoned talmidei chachamim, personalities like Reuven Trop, Yaakov Moshe Leibowitz, Mordechai Schulman, Chaim Zev Finkel, and Yitzchok Varshover (Hutner), to name a few. It wasn’t just an ocean that separated the two groups, but vastly different cultures.

But Torah is the great unifier, and so is, unfortunately, hate and destruction. Just five years later, the entire yeshivah, along with the Jewish community of Chevron, was evacuated following a horrific pogrom on Shabbos morning, parshas Eikev (August 24), 1929, in which 67 Jews were slaughtered and close to a hundred others injured and brutally maimed. But what many don’t know is that of the 24 students of the Slabodka yeshivah murdered in the massacre, eight of them were some of these young American talmidim.

Five days after the massacre, on August 29, a group of venerated roshei yeshivah and rabbanim met at the offices of the Agudath Harabbanim at 136 East Broadway on the Lower East Side, in what was one of the most prominent Torah gatherings ever to take place on American soil. Muffled sobs could be heard around the room, as the floor was ceded to a venerable pair of visiting senior European gedolim, Rav Boruch Ber Leibowitz and Rav Shimon Shkop. Presiding over the gathering was Slabodka Rosh Yeshivah Rav Boruch Horowitz, who had arrived in the US to seek financial support for the Lithuanian branch of the yeshivah, along with Rav Eliezer Silver, president of the Agudath Harabbanim. Among the many other dignitaries in attendance were Rav Yehuda Levenberg, rosh yeshivah of New Haven, Rabbi Yosef Konvitz, chief rabbi of Newark and a son-in-law of the Ridbaz, and Rabbi Dov Aryeh (Bernard) Levinthal, chief rabbi of Philadelphia. Slowly, the stifled cries turned to loud sobs as the program commenced:

“Arzei Halvanon, Aderei Hatorah… Eight of our dearest sons were taken in the prime of their lives… Kedoshim, tehorim…”

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Comments (3)

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Mordechai Millunchick
5 years ago
Reply

As a Chicagoan, your cover story regarding the Chevron massacre caught my eye. I was thankful to read additional details regarding these kedoshim. As noted in the article, the history of Chevron Yeshiva and Chicago are intertwined. A disproportionate number of Slabodka talmidim became rabbanim in our city, including the former rav of my shul, Rabbi Ephraim Epstein.
In your article you mention the 300 dunam purchased by Jack Wexler’s father. My friend, Mr. Eric Rothner, owns a letter written by Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein to the rav of Yerushalayim, Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, where Rav Epstein too expresses his inability to approach Mr. Wexler and asks that Rabbi Sonnefeld write a letter comforting the family and requesting the family donate the orchards to the yeshivah. We can only assume that this request was granted and that it serves as an everlasting aliyas neshamah.
In addition, no mention of the massacre would be complete without a short mention of the tzaddik Rabbi Dovid Winchester, who was stabbed 13 times and left for dead. With rachamim from Shamayim, Rabbi Winchester recovered and dedicated his life to chesed. Rabbi Winchester was the paradigm tzaddik, a malach of a person, who dedicated himself completely to others, whose paycheck needed to be diverted so that he would not give it entirely to those less fortunate.
May these kodshim be meilitzim yesharim for all of Klal Yisrael.
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Eli Neuberger
5 years ago
Reply

Normally I’m not the emotional type, but the gut-wrenching and tragic article by Dovi Safier literally moved me to tears. Much praise for his thorough and well-researched piece that makes history come alive. One can only hope that he keeps producing such high-quality pieces and that Mishpacha keeps running them.
One can’t help but marvel at the idealism and enthusiasm displayed by these American boys who traveled across the world to learn Torah. On a personal note, in my all-too-infrequent visits to Israel, I make it my business to pay a visit to Rebbetzin Leah Finkel, the widow of Rav Nosson Tzvi, may she live and be well. Once we were discussing the phenomenon of the German and American boys who came to the Mir: Despite their not being up to par with the academic level of their Eastern-European counterparts, they were able to grow rapidly in their learning and took inspiration from their experience by the fistfuls — and, as was the case with my German-born grandfather, were able to transmit that inspiration to their grandchildren.
I suggested that it’s comparable to the Gemara in Chagigah (13b) describing the difference between the nevuah of Yeshayahu and Yechezkel. The nevuah of Yechezkel is compared to a villager who goes to the big city and sees the king; when he returns to his village he is more than happy to regal the town with every detail of his experience. Yeshayahu, in contrast, is like a city dweller who is much more accustomed to seeing the king.
One can see from the letters that these boys wrote from Chevron and from my conversations with the foreigners that learned in the Mir, that one is capable of growing exponentially if he is willing to make such commitments.
May the memory of the martyrs from Chevron continue to inspire all of us.
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Judy Green
5 years ago
Reply

What an inspirational story was shared last week about the eight American boys that were killed in the 1929 Hebron massacre.
I was zocheh to be the great-niece of David (Aaron Dovid) Shainberg H”yd from Memphis, Tennessee. He was a special soul and became a baal teshuvah in his early 20s, learning as much as he could from a rav in Memphis. When the rav felt that David had progressed as far as he could in Memphis, he suggested that he go to learn in either New York or Eretz Yisrael, and my great uncle chose the Holy Land.
He was so inspired by his short-lived time here that he would send deeply expressive letters about the holiness and beauty of our sacred land on a regular basis to his family. It’s so tragic that he was murdered as he was in the process of becoming a true talmid chacham.
I became a baalas teshuvah as well, at a young age, and my grandmother would tell me many stories about my Uncle Dave. Although so sad that he was taken at a young age, I was so inspired to know that I had an uncle who died in Eretz Yisrael, al kiddush Hashem. I was not only connected but in awe of him!
My grandmother told me that the night that Uncle Dave died, her family was away at their grandmother’s home. The neighbors had called the police because a shadow was seen moving through their home, although no one was there. The police came and found nothing. However, the next day, when my grandmother’s family found out that Uncle Dave passed away, they realized it was at that same time that the shadow was seen in their home.
Because of this deep connection I had with my martyred uncle, I actually named my first son for him, Aharon. (We could not use the name Dovid because that’s my husband’s name.) May Aharon be zocheh to live his life al kiddush Hashem, until 120.