With deep rabbinic lineage rooted in both Brisk and Kerestir, his future as a Torah leader was all but assured

Title: Brisk for Hungarians

Location: Netanya

Document: Postcard

Time: 1960s

Hungary’s yeshivah world was a rich tapestry of institutions that wove together diverse communities, traditions, and learning styles. While Lithuanian-style yeshivos often dominate the narrative of prewar Torah learning, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia were also home to a robust yeshivah culture, shaped by the disciples of the Chasam Sofer and further enriched by chassidic influences.

A short distance from Satmar, in the small town of Toshnad (Tășnad), a towering institution emerged — Yeshivas Maharam Brisk, named for its founder, Rav Mordechai Brisk (1886–1944). Though less known today, during its prime in the late 1930s, the yeshivah was among the largest and most prestigious in the region.

A common misconception holds that the prewar yeshivah world comprised merely 5,000 students, a figure often cited to highlight the explosive growth of Torah learning in the post-Holocaust era. In reality, this number applies specifically to the Lithuanian-style yeshivos in Poland under the Vaad Hayeshivos. A broader view reveals a vastly larger Torah world, with yeshivos spread across Poland, Galicia, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and beyond.

Hungary alone boasted an extensive network of Torah institutions, stemming from both chassidic and Oberland traditions. Most Hungarian yeshivos operated as local kehillah institutions under the purview of the town rav, and were therefore quite small in size. Yeshivas Maharam Brisk stood apart, growing to an impressive 300 students — making it one of the largest yeshivos in all of Hungary and Romania.

Rav Mordechai Brisk, the driving force behind this yeshivah, was a Hungarian rav and posek of great renown. His maternal grandfather, Rav Nachum Gershon Greenwald (1819–1870), served as rav of the (not-yet-famous) Hungarian town of Kerestir, while his paternal roots traced back to Brisk, Lithuania. With deep rabbinic lineage rooted in both Brisk and Kerestir, his future as a Torah leader was all but assured.

Born in the spring of 1886 in the Hungarian town of Vylok (Tiszaújlak), he was the son of Rav Yehoshua Shlomo Breithartz (1842–1917), the town’s esteemed rav, and his wife, Esther. His father, in turn, was the son of Rav Moshe Shmuel Breithartz (1825–1879), a native of Brisk who later settled in Hungary, where he became a steadfast leader of the Vylok Jewish community. The family’s surname itself was a nod to their Brisker roots, though over time, their identity became inextricably linked with the Hungarian Torah world.

From a young age, Rav Mordechai was steeped in Hungarian rabbinic traditions. He studied in the famed yeshivah of Mad under Rav Mordechai Yehuda Leib Winkler (1845–1932), author of the responsa sefer Levushei Mordechai and a disciple of the Ksav Sofer.

In 1908, Rav Mordechai married Gitel, the daughter of Rav Shmuel Zalman Weinberger (1860–1933), rav of Margareten in Transylvania. Just three years later, in 1911, he was appointed as a dayan and moreh tzedek in Margareten, where he established a yeshivah and became a communal leader. It was during this time that he began preserving and publishing Sh’eilos U’teshuvos Maharayatz, the responsa of Rav Yehoshua Aharon Tzvi Weinberger (1813–1891) — his wife’s grandfather and a student of the Chasam Sofer. His dedication to ensuring the survival of Hungarian Torah scholarship extended beyond his own teachings; he was committed to safeguarding the legacy of the gedolim who preceded him.

In 1919, Rav Mordechai assumed the rabbanus of Toshnad, a role that would define his career. Over the next two decades, he emerged as one of the region’s foremost rabbinic figures, authoring the multivolume Shu”t Maharam Brisk, which gained wide recognition. Word of his halachic expertise spread beyond his own community, and he was sought after to resolve some of the most contentious disputes in Hungarian Jewish life. Among them were the battle for the rabbanus of Satmar, a leadership struggle in the Cluj (Klausenburg) community, and a critical halachic debate involving a shochet in Grosswardein.

Despite his growing influence, Rav Mordechai remained wholly devoted to his yeshivah, fostering a generation of talmidim who would continue his legacy. His commitment to Hungarian Torah traditions, his rigorous adherence to halachah, and his vision for a Torah world untethered from external pressures made him an enduring pillar of prewar Jewish scholarship.

Following Hungarian tradition, Rav Mordechai established his yeshivah upon assuming the rabbanus. What began as a modest institution soon swelled into a massive Torah center, drawing students from across the region. The yeshivah’s structured learning program mirrored the Hungarian style.

Morning: Shacharis, followed by an intensive halachah shiur and an in-depth iyun shiur.

Afternoon: Sunday through Tuesday were devoted to covering two or three dapim of Gemara with Rishonim, while Wednesdays and Thursdays focused on chazarah and weekly bechinos.

Weekends: Friday was dedicated to hilchos Shabbos, and Motzaei Shabbos saw rigorous exams on the weekly parshah and halachah.

Sundays: No standard shiurim, but in-depth study of Yoreh Dei’ah with cumulative bechinos at the end of each zeman.

Rav Mordechai Brisk made a pioneering effort to establish a dining room and even a partial dormitory for his students, a rarity in that region. His vision ensured that the talmidim could fully immerse themselves in learning without external distractions. Rav Mordechai was not merely a rosh yeshivah; he was a father figure. He personally tended to his talmidim’s needs, often caring for sick students and hosting them for Pesach Sedorim. The yeshivah drew strong community involvement, with prominent local figures attending the opening shiurim of each zeman.

His devotion to Torah education was unparalleled. In 1942, he was offered the position of chief rabbi of the Budapest Orthodox community, but turned it down because they would not guarantee funding for a yeshivah.

“No yeshivah, no rabbanus,” he declared, and remained in Toshnad.

This decision likely cost him his life. With the Nazi invasion of Hungary two years later, the communities of eastern Hungary, including Toshnad, were almost entirely wiped out, while many in Budapest itself survived.

When the war reached Hungary in 1944, the community was shattered. Many of the yeshivah’s bochurim had already been drafted years earlier into the Hungarian army’s forced labor brigades, and those who remained were soon swept up in the Nazi deportations. Despite enduring beatings and deprivation, Rav Mordechai Brisk continued to teach Torah in the ghetto until he was deported to Auschwitz. Rav Mordechai Brisk, along with his talmidim and almost his entire family, were sent to the gas chambers upon arrival. His yeshivah, once a beacon of Hungarian Torah learning, was reduced to ashes.

Only one son, Rav Aharon Tzvi Brisk, survived the war. Determined to rebuild his father’s legacy, he established Yeshivas Maharam Brisk in Netanya, ensuring that the name and spirit of Toshnad’s yeshivah lived on. Under his leadership, the yeshivah in Netanya became a bastion of Hungarian Torah traditions, continuing the learning and mesorah that had flourished before the war. Following his passing in 1959, He was succeeded by his son Rav Yehoshua Brisk (1932–2010), who continued the Brisk family legacy.

Unwavering Faith

During the Holocaust, Rav Mordechai continued answering halachic questions and was involved in heter agunos cases for many Jewish women whose husbands disappeared in forced labor battalions. His responsa from this time were later published in Sh’eilos U’teshuvos Maharam Brisk. Most agunos’ halachic responsa were analyzed only after the war. He essentially pioneered this unique halachic genre, and laid the halachic groundwork for this tragic issue. In 1943, he was severely beaten after a draft evader was found hiding on the roof of his yeshivah.

In the summer of 1944, Hungarian gendarmes surrounded his home, preventing any contact with others. After two days, he and his family were taken to the government schoolyard and later deported to the Simleu-Silvaniei ghetto, where his beard was forcibly shaved. During his final days, he mostly remained silent, withdrawn in deep contemplation, quietly humming the piyut “Chamol al ma’asecha” to a solemn Rosh Hashanah tune. On the second day of Shavuos, he was deported to Auschwitz, where on the night of the 11th of Sivan, 1944, he was sent to the crematorium.

Brisker Alumni

Many prominent talmidim went on to serve in various positions in the Hungarian rabbinate. Most were murdered in the Holocaust. Notably, one of the yeshivah’s students was the young Menachem Mendel Taub, who survived the Holocaust and emerged as the great Rebbe of Kaliv. Another survivor was Rav Shlomo Chaim Bernstein, who was one of the closest students of Rav Mordechai Brisk and was even engaged to his daughter. They didn’t have a chance to get married before the deportations commenced, and she was murdered at Auschwitz.

Rav Shlomo Chaim settled in Bnei Brak, where he served for decades as a rebbi in the Satmar yeshivah of Bnei Brak and other institutions. The famous historian of the prewar Hungarian Torah world, Dr. Avraham Fuchs, was also a student of Maharam Brisk, and authored an impressive work on his rebbi and the yeshivah. The Maharam Brisk Yeshivah continued to host annual alumni events in New York for many years following the war.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1052)