תורה תורה חגרי שק • עולם התורה באבל • Rav Shmuel Yaakov Borenstein zt”l

It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the passing of Rav Shmuel Yaakov Borenstein zt”l, rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Kiryas Melech in Bnei Brak, a member of the Moetzes Gedolei Hatorah of Degel Hatorah, and one of the leading roshei yeshiva in Eretz Yisroel. He was 71 years old.

Rav Borenstein was hospitalized at the intensive care unit at Maayanei Hayeshuah Hospital in Bnei Brak after recently suffering a heart attack.

Prior to becoming rosh yeshiva of Kiryas Melech, where his co-rosh yeshiva was Rav Shlomo Kanievsky, Rav Shmuel Yaakov served as rosh yeshiva at Yeshivas Chevron Geulah in Yerushalayim.

Rav Shmuel Yaakov was born in Yerushalayim in תש״ו to his parents, R’ Yissochor Dov and Rebbetzin Yehudis Tziviah (nee Lubin) Borenstein.

Already as a youngster, Rav Shmuel Yaakov was recognized as a prodigy, with rare aptitude and acumen, and a masmid, devoting himself to Torah and avodah in a special way. He studied at Yeshiva Tiferes Tzvi and then Yeshiva Chevron.

After his marriage in 1970, he learned at Yeshivas Mir Yerushalayim under Rav Chaim Shmulevitz and Rav Nochum Partzovitz. Rav Shmuel Yaakov was extremely close to Rav Chaim Shmulevitz and was involved in publishing Rav Chaim’s sefer Shaarei Chaim.

Rav Shmuel Yaakov also had a kesher with Rav Yitzchok Hutner during the period after Rav Hutner left Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin in New York and served as rosh yeshiva in Eretz Yisroel.

Rav Shmuel Yaakov served as a R”M at Yeshiva Kneses Yehudah in Yerushalayim and then moved to the United States, where he lived for three years. Upon his return, he was appointed by Rav Boruch Shimon Salomon as a R”M in his yeshiva, Nachlas Dovid in Petach Tikva.

With the founding of Yeshiva Knesses Yisroel-Chevron in the Geulah neighborhood of Yerushalayim, Rav Shmuel Yaakov was appointed as rosh yeshiva alongside Rav Chaim Sarna, serving in that position for some twenty years.

A short while after the founding of Yeshiva Kiryas Melech in Bnei Brak, he was appointed as rosh yeshiva there.

Rav Shmuel Yaakov’s seforim are renowned for their depth and profundity, and they contain haskamos from gedolei olam such as Rav Chaim Shmuelitz, Rav Elazar Menachem Man Shacha and Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv.

In the winter of 1970, he married his wife, Rebbetzin Sarah Rasia, nee Klainer, a granddaughter of Rav Avrohom Yitzchok Bloch, Rosh Yeshivas Telz. Rebbetzin Sarah Rasia served as a noted mechaneches at a seminary in Yerushalayim. She passed away on 2 Iyar four years ago.

In Tammuz of that year, Rav Shmuel Yaakov remarried, marrying Rebbetzin Rochel Gefen, the almanah of Rav Moshe Gefen, R”M at Yeshivas Knesses Yitzchok who was killed in a train accident.

Rav Shmuel Yaakov’s passing has plunged the greater Olam Hatorah into mourning. He was one of the great Torah giants of our day, admired and looked up to by tens of thousands of bnei Torah across the globe.

The levayah will be held on Sunday, Lag Ba’omer, at Yeshiva Kiryas Melech in Bnei Brak.

Yehi zichro boruch.

{Matzav.com Israel News Bureau}