Rav Mendel Weinbach zt”l

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rav-mendel-weinbachIt is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the passing of Rav Mendel Weinbach zt”l, founding rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Ohr Somayach in Yerushalayim. He was 79.

Rav Weinbach was one of the fathers of the modern-day baal teshuvah movement. Since the founding of Yeshiva Ohr Somayach in 1970, Rav Weinbach taught, mentored and advised generations of students, helping beginners develop their learning skills and embrace a Torah lifestyle. He was a father figure to thousands and actively participated in his students’ weddings and the brisos and bar mitzvahs of their children.

Rav Weinbach was an erudite talmid chochom and a sought-after speaker for both men’s and women’s groups in Israel and abroad. He wrote several seforim and books, and authored many newspaper, magazine and online articles on Jewish thought and practice.

Rav Weinbach was born in 1933 in Poland and was raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He received semichah at Yeshiva Torah Vodaas.

He married Sylvie (Sheindel) Lamm, a Belgian war orphan who came to New York at the age of 5. She and her parents, Abraham Israel and Rachel Lamm, had been interned in the Mechelen transit camp in 1942. She had been liberated on January 13, 1944, and sent to a Jewish orphanage; her parents were deported to Auschwitz two days later. She was raised by her aunt and uncle in New York City. Rav Weinbach and his wife settled in Kiryat Mattersdorf in Yerushalayim, where they raised their 12 children.

The 1960s and 1970s were a time of searching for meaning by Western-educated, college-age men and women. In 1970, Rav Weinbach with Rav Noach Weinberg, Rav Nota Schiller, and Rav Yaakov Rosenberg founded Yeshiva Shema Yisroel to attract young Jewish men with little or no background in Jewish studies. After a few years, Rav Weinberg founded Aish HaTorah in 1974. Shema Yisroel subsequently changed its name to Ohr Somayach.

Rav Weinbach will long be remembered as a beloved rebbi, rosh yeshiva and mashpiah who impacted the lives of thousands of people, giving meaning to their lives and bringing them closer to the Ribono Shel Olam.

The levaya is scheduled to take place at 1:45 p.m. at Yeshiva Ohr Somayach, located at  22 Rechov Shimon Hatzaddik in the Maalot Dafna section of Yerushalayim. Kevurah will follow at Har Hamenuchos.

Yehi zichro boruch.

{Noam Amdurski-Matzav.com Newscenter}


20 COMMENTS

  1. Baruch Dayan Emes – he made sure Ohr Somayach wasnt just a baal tshuvah program – it is a real yeshivah that brings men from alef beis all the way to the ktzos. He was a sweet and humble man. Yehi zichro baruch. Just one question, if he was born in 1933, wouldnt he be 79? How does it say he was 81?

  2. L’kaayem Banu Chachmei Yisroel!

    The Tzibbur is asked to “increase the Davening” for Rabbi Shlomo Brevda, Shlita, who is in the ICU suffering from a serious illness and needs our Tefillos. please say Tehillim daily as a Zechus for the Refuah Shelaima of “Rav Shlomo Leib Ben Miriam” it will be greatly appreciated.

    Rav Brevda requested that we increase the intensity of our Tefillos during Dovening and say Tehillim (day and/or night) whenever the opportunity arises. He feels in very dire straights.

    Please request that a Misheberech to be said for the Rav during Kryias HaTorah.

    Thank you.

  3. it just gets worse & worse, as the gedolim continue leaving this world R”L. Rabbi Weinbach is the 107th leader of klal yisroel to leave us in a matter of 19 months. (more then 1 a week)thats shocking & tragic. we used to hear once or twice a year that a tzaddik was niftar.

    BOTTOM LINE: it doesn’t shock me like it used to, due to the fact that Hashem sends us so many wake-up calls & reminders to return to Hashem through teshuva & achdus etc… BUT we don’t accept them & do something about it. We really leave Hashem no choice BUT to continue sending us more tragic wake-up calls, as we go from tragic to horific R”L

    if we don’t change our ways & return to Hashem, its just going to get worse & the saddest part about it is that Hashem cries with Rochel Imeinu when klal yisroel is in pain, but we cause it to ourselves when we don’t do teshuva (do YOU know any parent that wants to hit their child? sometimes they just have no choice, when the child won’t listen i.e. its a potch of love-not of anger-to be mechanech the child to learn & raise them the proper way) its the same with Hashem, HASHEM HATES TO BRING TZAROS UPON his loving nation klal yisroel, but sometimes we leave him no choice.

    May we all do teshuva & never hear from tzaron anymore

    May mashiach come ASAP

  4. Baruch Dayan HaEmes. My beloved Rosh HaYeshiva. His shiurim, guidance, and many other memories are deeply embedded in my life. Thank you from the depths of my heart.

  5. I do not live in North America I do not know who Rav Mendel Weinbach was, nor do I know anything of his history, but he was a Jew whose death must be mourned.

    So baruch dayan haemet.

  6. B”H

    Never met or spoke with HaRav Mendel. But read several dvrei Torah in Light Magazine while in Yeshiva Matir Asurim. It was the right medicine during precarious times. Feel like I lost a member of the family.

  7. Thousands of Talmidim, Thousands of hours of guidance, of warmth. Smiles, words of encouragement, words of support. Approachable, Caring, Enthusiastic, Always there for us. Passion, Ahavas Yisroel, Ahavas HaTorah. Inspirational, Sweet, Loving Gadol. I learned under The Rosh Yeshiva ZT”L.

  8. Got the call this morning. Oy! Words cannot do the Rosh Yeshiva ZTL justice. I just lost my father..again.
    Many people complain about the weather but nobody does anything about it. Many people complained about the matzav of fry people in klal Yisroel but THE ROSH YESHIVA DID SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Oy Tatty! Most fathers make a baruch shepotrani at their son’s bar mitzva. So to speak..The Rosh Yeshiva ZTL NEVER made a boruch shepotrani on his talmidim. He bore us on his shoulders constantly with unending patience and understanding. Just for the record it wasn’t just balei teshuva he dealt with. He also had students who were technically FFBs. To him what mattered was serving the Ribono Shel Olam. I called him almost every 6-8 weeks for the last 20 years. He understood like no one else. He guided with patience and clarity. Ribono Shel Olam who will I go to for eitzas now??? May his family and talmidim be speddily reunited with him with the coming of Meshiach Tzidkeinu and may all their, and our tears be wiped away. Hashem Yisborach should bless his partner Hagaon Harav Nota Schiller Shlita (other Rosh Yeshiva in Ohr Somayach )with the strength and good health to continue on being mekariv the nation.

  9. Got the call this morning. Oy! Words cannot do the Rosh Yeshiva ZTL justice. I just lost my father..again.
    Many people complain about the weather but nobody does anything about it. Many people complained about the matzav of fry people in klal Yisroel but THE ROSH YESHIVA DID SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Oy Tatty! Most fathers make a baruch shepotrani at their son’s bar mitzva. So to speak..The Rosh Yeshiva ZTL NEVER made a boruch shepotrani on his talmidim. He bore us on his shoulders constantly with unending patience and understanding. Just for the record it wasn’t just balei teshuva he dealt with. He also had students who were technically FFBs. To him what mattered was serving the Ribono Shel Olam. I called him almost every 6-8 weeks for the last 20 years. He understood like no one else. He guided with patience and clarity. Ribono Shel Olam who will I go to for eitzas now??? May his family and talmidim be speddily reunited with him with the coming of Meshiach Tzidkeinu and may all their, and our tears be wiped away. Hashem Yisborach should bless his partner Hagaon Harav Nota Schiller Shlita (other Rosh Yeshiva in Ohr Somayach )with the strength and good health to continue on being mekariv the nation.

  10. To Yehuda:

    Why do you have such a negetive look at Klall Yisroel? You have an Eyin Rah! Your just like Bilaam! Do you ever speak positive about your Brothers? Maybe all these natural deaths are happening because of your constant slander! You worship death! You keep spewing the same garbage every time someone dies! The bigger question is, why does Matzav keep printing it?

  11. ‘Reb Mendel’ as the Rosh Yeshiva was fondly known to his talmidim – thousands of them all over the world, was a great Jew. These talmidim, most of whom came from unaffiliated backgrounds, now surely have many thousands of children and grandchildren going in the ways of Torah. His considerable part in the ‘Baal Tshuva movement’ will make his memory an important historical legacy for the Jewish people. He was an unusually brilliant and dynamic speaker. I encourage all to go to the Ohr Somayach website and listen to his recorded shmuzim. They will captivate and motivate you. May the Torah we continue to learn from our beloved Rosh Hashiva zt”l” be a z’chus for his holy neshama.

  12. HAMAKOM YNACHEM ESCHEM BSOCH SHAR AVELEI TZION
    V YERUSHALAYIM.
    MAY THIS HOLY NESHAMA BE A MELETZ YASHER FOR KLAL YISROEL AND HELP BRING THE GEULA SHLAIME.

  13. Rav Weinbach had an amazing co’ach hadibur, and spoke with such intensity. His youthful voice belied his age and captivated thousands. He always had such a pleasant demeanor and never judged anyone. Klal Yisrael sorely misses you, Rav Weinbach!

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