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    Ephraim Oshry

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    The document describes Rabbi Ephraim Oshry, who survived the Holocaust and wrote about his experiences. It provides biographical details about his life, education, family, and career as a rabbi after surviving the Holocaust. It also discusses his writings about responding to difficult questions regarding Judaism during the Holocaust.

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    Ephraim Oshry

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    The document describes Rabbi Ephraim Oshry, who survived the Holocaust and wrote about his experiences. It provides biographical details about his life, education, family, and career as a rabbi after surviving the Holocaust. It also discusses his writings about responding to difficult questions regarding Judaism during the Holocaust.

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    The document describes Rabbi Ephraim Oshry, who survived the Holocaust and wrote about his experiences. It provides biographical details about his life, education, family, and career as a rabbi after surviving the Holocaust. It also discusses his writings about responding to difficult questions regarding Judaism during the Holocaust.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    26 views3 pages

    Ephraim Oshry

    Uploaded by

    erikjarvinen0
    The document describes Rabbi Ephraim Oshry, who survived the Holocaust and wrote about his experiences. It provides biographical details about his life, education, family, and career as a rabbi after surviving the Holocaust. It also discusses his writings about responding to difficult questions regarding Judaism during the Holocaust.

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    Ephraim Oshry

    Ephraim Oshry (1914–September 28, 2003), was an Orthodox


    Rabbi
    rabbi, posek, and author of The Annihilation of Lithuanian Jewry.
    Ephraim Oshry
    He was one of the few European rabbis to survive the Holocaust.
    Personal
    Born 1914
    Early life Kupiškis
    Ephraim Oshry was born in Kupiškis, Lithuania. He studied Died September 28,
    alongside some of the most prominent and revered Jewish leaders 2003 (aged 94–95)
    and rabbis of his time, including the Alter of Slabodka, Moshe New York City
    Mordechai Epstein, Isaac Sher and Avraham Duber Kahana
    Religion Judaism
    Shapiro (author of Devar Avraham). He quickly rose to
    Spouse Freida Greensweig
    prominence among the students at Slabodka Yeshiva.[1][2]
    Children 6 sons, 3

    World War II daughters


    Denomination Orthodox Judaism
    When the Nazis invaded Kaunas in 1941 during World War II,
    Alma mater Slabodka Yeshiva
    Oshry's community was forced into the Kaunas Ghetto and
    Concentration Camp, where his first wife and children were Jewish leader
    murdered.[3] Successor Rabbi Mendel
    Greenbaum[1]
    In his book, The Annihilation of Lithuanian Jewry, Oshry tells his
    story of living through the Holocaust. He related in horrific detail Position Rabbi

    how the Nazis and their Lithuanian collaborators viciously Synagogue Beth Hamedrash
    murdered Jews, but he also focused on the spiritual life of the Jews Hagadol
    living in the Kovno Ghetto and concentration camp. Despite being Yahrtzeit 2nd Day Rosh
    starved and beaten, the Jews continued to study Torah in secret, Hashana
    and risked their lives in order to fulfill the mitzvot (God's Buried Jerusalem
    commandments).[4]

    Responsa
    While in the Kovno Ghetto and concentration camp, Oshry began writing his responsa regarding the
    Holocaust, answering difficult questions in such subjects as human nature, God, and Jewish ethics. Before
    the final battle between the Nazis and the Soviets, Oshry buried his responsa in the ground. After the war,
    he retrieved them, and in 1959, he published some of the Hebrew responsa under the title She'eilos
    Uteshuvos Mima'amakim (Questions and Responses from the Depths).[5] This volume was later followed
    by four additional volumes, the final one being published in 1979. An English volume of the original work
    (adbridged, with much of the halakhic argumentation removed), was published, titled Responsa from the
    Holocaust.[3]

    Post-war activities
    After Kaunas was liberated in August 1944, Oshry and his wife Frieda Greenzwieg, a survivor of
    Auschwitz, went to Rome. There Oshry started a yeshiva for orphaned refugee children.[1]

    In 1950, Oshry moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, with his family and yeshiva students.[4]

    In 1952, Oshry moved to New York City, where he became the rabbi of Beth Hamedrash Hagodol. Oshry
    opened a yeshiva for boys and a yeshiva for girls named Yeshivah Torah V'Emunah in the East Bronx.[3]

    Family
    In 1949, Oshry became engaged to his second wife, Frieda Greensweig, a daughter of Sigeter Hasidim, at
    the suggestion of her uncle Moshe Friserman, the Tomashover Rebbe. Together they had 6 sons, all of
    whom became rabbis, and 3 daughters. Frieda died in 2018.[2]

    Death
    Oshry died on September 28, 2003, at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. Nearly 1,000 mourners
    attended his funeral. He is buried in Jerusalem.[1]

    Legacy
    Yeshiva Shaar Ephraim in Monsey, New York is named after him. It is headed by his son-in-law.

    Works
    Oshry, Ephraim. Annihilation of Lithuanian Jewry, Judaica Press, 1995 ISBN 978-1-880582-
    18-3
    Oshry, Ephraim. Responsa from the Holocaust, B. Goldman and Y. Leiman Eds., Judaica
    Press, 2001 ISBN 978-1-880582-71-8

    See also
    Biography portal

    Judaism portal

    Lithuania portal
    New York City
    portal

    Yisroel Spira

    References
    1. “Rabbi Ephraim Oshry, 89, Led Norfolk St. Temple” (http://thevillager.com/villager_23/rabbiep
    hraim.html) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20160304122340/http://thevillager.com/vill
    ager_23/rabbiephraim.html) 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, The Villager (New York),
    vol. 73, No. 22, dated October 1–7, 2003.
    2. Hoffman, Rafael (May 29, 2018) "Rebbetzin Freida Oshry, A”h" (https://hamodia.com/2018/0
    5/29/rebbetzin-freida-oshry-ah/), Hamodia
    3. Albert Amateau (October 10, 2003). "Rabbi Ephraim Oshry, 89, religious scholar, dies" (http
    s://web.archive.org/web/20070331100200/http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_24/rabbiep
    hraim.html). DowntownExpress. Vol. 16, no. 19. Archived from the original (http://www.downt
    ownexpress.com/de_24/rabbiephraim.html) on 2007-03-31.
    4. Douglas Martin (October 5, 2003). "Ephraim Oshry, 89, a Scholar In Secret During the
    Holocaust" (https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/05/nyregion/ephraim-oshry-89-a-scholar-in-se
    cret-during-the-holocaust.html). The New York Times.
    5. Israel L. Shenker (May 5, 1975). "Responsa: The Law as Seen By Rabbis for 1,000 Years"
    (https://www.nytimes.com/1975/05/05/archives/responsa-the-law-as-seen-by-rabbis-for-1000
    -years.html). The New York Times.

    External links
    Individual PDFs of each of the five Hebrew volumes can be accessed at the following links:
    Volumes "one" (https://pin.lu/oshry1), "two" (http://pin.lu/oshry2), "three" (http://pin.lu/oshry3),
    "four" (http://pin.lu/oshry4) and "five" (http://pin.lu/oshry5).

    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ephraim_Oshry&oldid=1210109231"

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