A Lakewood Icon: Reb Yekusiel (Yuks) Weinstein z”l

It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the petirah of Reb Yekusiel Tzvi (Yuks) Weinstein z”l of Lakewood, NJ.

Reb Yekusiel was a resident of Lakewood for over 6 decades, a talmid of Rav Aharon Kotler zt”l at Beth Medrash Govoha when Lakewood was a small hamlet of bnei Torah.

Reb Yekusiel opened Beis Medrash Chevrah Lomdei Torah, which came known as “Yuks,” many years ago. Yuks is a beis medrash like no other in Lakewood or perhaps anywhere else. The seforim that line its walls are high-mileage seforim, most of them bound in heavy black tape, the covers and pages worn down from many years of loving use. These are seforim that have been held in the hands of some of the biggest talmidei chachomim in Lakewood in the past forty years.

Not one to look for kavod or recognition, Reb Yekusiel gave his heart and soul to his beis medrash, reaping quiet satisfaction from the limud haTorah that took place between its hallowed walls.

The modest old building in which this unusual beis medrash was formerly located was originally the home of Reb Yekusiel and his large family. At the time, Reb Yekusiel was the manager of the physical plant of Bais Medrash Govoah. It was a position he held for thirty-three years. Reb Yekusiel and his family moved into the house in the mid-Sixties. Most of the ground floor was taken up by the kitchen, dining room, living room and two bedrooms. There were also some rooms on the second floor, which was really an attic.

In 1973, Reb Yekusiel became an aveil, and he wanted an amud for every tefillah during his year of aveilus. This was not an easy thing, so the family agreed to give up the living/front room for a makeshift shul. They removed the furniture and put in tables and chairs and a small aron kodesh. Reb Yekusiel had his amud, and the family managed with the remaining rooms.

Then a strange thing happened. People started coming into the former living room during the day to learn. For the most part, the people who came were talmidei chachomim from the yeshiva who wanted a smaller place where they could concentrate and work on difficult sugyos. To accommodate them better, Reb Yekusiel bought seforim and placed them in his converted living room. He also provided coffee and tea at all hours of the day and night.

When the year of aveilus was up, Reb Yekusiel did not take back the living room for his family’s use. He allowed it to remain a small but interesting makom Torah. As time went on, more and more choshuve people came to learn in the Weinstein living room. It became very crowded. So Reb Yekusiel and his family talked it over, and they decided to contribute their dining room to the shul growing in their home. The kitchen was fairly large, and it would double as a dining room even on Shabbos.

Meanwhile, the walls of the former dining room/living room were filling up with bookcases, and the bookcases were filling up with seforim. Rav Moshe Schwab, later rosh kollel in Detroit, began to give regular shiurim. He also proposed that the shul be called Chevrah Lomdei Torah, because that is exactly what it was. In addition, there was a shiur on Chumash every Friday night by the rosh yeshiva, Rav Shneur Kotler zt”l, and Rav Dovid Hersh Meyer zt”l, mashgiach of Stamford, who took turns saying the shiur every other week.

[Rav Shneur had a close relationship with Reb Yekusiel for many, many years. He often davened in Chevrah Lomdei Torah, which was near his home; during the time of his final illness, he davened there regularly. For many years, Rav Eliyahu Levine gave shiurim there and learned bechavrusa with Reb Yekusiel.]

With the passing years, the shul continued to grow. Virtually every inch of floor space was covered by tables, shtenders and chairs, and virtually every inch of wall space was covered with ever more seforim, including just about every basic sefer a talmid chochom could possibly need. Some of the seforim were donated by various people, but the bulk was paid for by Reb Yekusiel. Moreover, his wife used to work in the local chevrah kadisha chapel and spend her earnings on seforim for the shul.

And so the talmidei chachomim came to learn all miktzaos of Torah in the shul in the Weinstein home and to use the plentiful seforim provided. At one time or another, many were fixtures in the shul.

Many individuals made siyumim, including siyumei Hashas, on mesechtos which were learned in Chevrah Lomdei Torah. Many mechabrim wrote their own seforim or chiburim in this exceptional shul. Maggidei shiur came there to prepare their shiurim. Bar-mitzvah boys came there to study their pshetlach. Baalei batim came there to learn in the singular ruach of the place, a rare blend of inclusive family warmth and intense focus on learning Torah. Older bochurim, who were a little uncomfortable in the yeshiva, came there to learn in comfort and seclusion.

A number of elderly people who retired and moved to Lakewood chose Chevrah Lomdei Torah as their preferred place to learn. Some years ago, anyone coming in during the day was treated to the sight of Rav Aryeh Leib Reinman, a talmid of Lublin, and Rav Shimon Gittelis, a talmid of the Mir, learning together and arguing at the top of their lungs like young bochurim in yeshiva. R’ Nochim Zeldes, a talmid of Kletzk, was also a regular.

As the years went on, the shul continued to encroach on the Weinstein home, and eventually, the family gave over their kitchen and bedrooms to the makom Torah and moved to the house next door.

Thanks to Yuks, the shul was open almost around the clock for people who wanted to sit down and learn. It became the perfect complement to Bais Medrash Govoah, which is around the corner. They even have similar addresses; the yeshiva’s is 617 Sixth Street, and Chevrah Lomdei Torah is 617 Fifth Street.

In all these years, Reb Yekusiel, who had a well-earned reputation for tzedakah and chesed, bore all the expenses of the shul himself. Reb Yekusiel never asked anyone for money. He never asked for membership dues from the regular mispallelim. He gave the basement of the building to Shalom Torah Centers for use as administrative offices. He gave a room to Hatzolah for an office, also rent-free. In 1992, he gave the upstairs rooms to Yeshivah Tal Torah, R’ Yosef Amsel’s yeshivah for Russian metzuyanim, again rent-free. Yeshivah Tal Torah later occupied the basement of Reb Yekusiel’s home next door, also rent-free.

The time eventually came to replace the small, old, decrepit, exceedingly overcrowded building with a new structure, a more spacious successor that now occupies the same hallowed ground. But Reb Yekusiel’s unique imprint always remained, as it does still today.

Reb Yekusiel is survived by his children, Shimon, Aryeh, Shaul, Eliezer, Binyomin, and Rochel Sharabi. His wife passed away some years ago. He is also survived by his siblings, R’ Eliezer Weinstein and Mrs. Chani Hirsch.

The levayah will be held on Wednesday at Chevrah Lomdei Torah, located at 617 Fifth Street in Lakewood, followed by kevurah in New York.

The family will be sitting shivah at 621 Fifth Street in Lakewood, NJ.

Yehi zichro boruch.

{Matzav.com Newscenter}