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Shlomo Zev Zweigenhaft
Shlomo Zev Zweigenhaft (Hebrew: הרב שלמה זאב צווייגענהאפט) was a rabbi and Rosh Hashochtim of Poland (overseeing the country's kosher slaughterers) before the Holocaust. After the Holocaust he was Chief Rabbi of Hanover and Lower Saxony. After emigrating to the United States he was a Rav Hamachshir (kosher certifier) and was described as the "foremost authority on shechita" (kosher slaughter).
Rabbi Zweigenhaft was born in Sosnowiec Poland in 1915. His mother, Michla, was a daughter of Meir Dovid Reinhertz, a Rabbi who was a son of the Rabbi of Yanov and a grandson of the Rabbi of Przedbórz. Zweigenhaft's father, Rabbi Moshe Chaim, was a shochet (kosher slaughterer) and a student of Avrohom Bornsztain. Zweigenhaft was orphaned at the age of two and was raised by his paternal grandfather, Efraim Mordechai Mottel Zweigenhaft, who was a posek and shochet in Sosnowiec and a descendant of David HaLevi Segal and Joel Sirkis.
Rabbi Zweigenhaft studied at a Radomsker cheder in Sosnowiec until the age of 12. For the next two years he was a student of Dov Berish Einhorn in Amstov. At the age of 14 he had memorized the gemara of the entire massekhtot of zevachim and menachot with the commentaries of Rashi and Tosafot He then returned to Sosnowiec where he was a student of David Moshe Rabinowicz in Kibbutz Govoha Yeshiva.
When Zweigenhaft was 16 years old he began to study privately with Aryeh Tzvi Frumer from whom he received rabbinical ordination two years later. This was an extremely rare achievement, considering that Frumer only ordained a total of 5 out of several hundred students over the course of his life.
David Avraham Mandelbaum, in Frummer's biography describes Zweigenhaft as an example of one of the "best" Talmudic students in Poland. Mandelbaum also describes Zweigenhaft's relationship with Frumer as "extremely close".
Rabbi Zweigenhaft's father, grandfather and great-grandfather were shochtim. As a young boy Zweigenhaft had been privy to his family's masorah (transmission of Jewish religious tradition) of shechita stretching back hundreds of years. When Zweigenhaft was 14 years old and still studying in Amstov, the shochtim of the city encountered a halachic difficulty and summoned Dov Berish Einhorn for assistance. Einhorn asked Zweigenhaft to accompany him on his walk to the slaughterhouse. When they arrived, Einhorn began to contemplate the problem that the shochtim presented to him. Zweigenhaft then proceeded to deftly pick up the chalef (shechitah knife) and demonstrated how to perform the shechitah and resolved their issue. Einhorn was so impressed that from then on he would only eat meat if it was slaughtered by Zweigenhaft despite his youth. Shortly thereafter, Rabbi Einhorn proudly told Yitzchok Mordechai Rabinowicz (Chief Rabbi of Polavno) about Zweigenhaft. Rabinowicz requested that Einhorn send Zweigenhaft to him and then proceeded to teach Zweigenhaft the masorah of shechita that he had learned from his grandfather the Tiferes Shlomo of Radomsk. Thereafter, the Radomsker Rebbe would only eat meat from Zweigenhaft's Shechita. Year later, when the Minchas Elazar of Munkach visited Sosnowiec, he too would only eat from Zweigenhaft's shechitah.
At the age of 18, Zweigenhaft was shochet of Sosnowiec and by the time he was 20, he was also the shochet of several other cities in Poland, including Radomsk, Polavno, Amstov, Volbrum, Elkish and Tchebin, and was the Rosh Hashochtim of Sosnowiec.
In the mid-1930s Zweigenhaft was appointed one of the seven members of the Vaad Roshei Hashochtim of Poland and Lithuania a board of seven rabbis overseeing thousands of shochtim throughout Poland. In 1936, a bill outlawing Shechitah was introduced in the Sejm (Polish legislature). Despite being the youngest member of the Vaad, Zweigenhaft was selected to perform Shechita in front of the assembled legislators and demonstrate that shechitah was a quick humane form of animal slaughter. Together with an intense lobbying effort, this led to the Sejm allowing the practice to continue, although it was restricted with a maximum quota.
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Shlomo Zev Zweigenhaft
Shlomo Zev Zweigenhaft (Hebrew: הרב שלמה זאב צווייגענהאפט) was a rabbi and Rosh Hashochtim of Poland (overseeing the country's kosher slaughterers) before the Holocaust. After the Holocaust he was Chief Rabbi of Hanover and Lower Saxony. After emigrating to the United States he was a Rav Hamachshir (kosher certifier) and was described as the "foremost authority on shechita" (kosher slaughter).
Rabbi Zweigenhaft was born in Sosnowiec Poland in 1915. His mother, Michla, was a daughter of Meir Dovid Reinhertz, a Rabbi who was a son of the Rabbi of Yanov and a grandson of the Rabbi of Przedbórz. Zweigenhaft's father, Rabbi Moshe Chaim, was a shochet (kosher slaughterer) and a student of Avrohom Bornsztain. Zweigenhaft was orphaned at the age of two and was raised by his paternal grandfather, Efraim Mordechai Mottel Zweigenhaft, who was a posek and shochet in Sosnowiec and a descendant of David HaLevi Segal and Joel Sirkis.
Rabbi Zweigenhaft studied at a Radomsker cheder in Sosnowiec until the age of 12. For the next two years he was a student of Dov Berish Einhorn in Amstov. At the age of 14 he had memorized the gemara of the entire massekhtot of zevachim and menachot with the commentaries of Rashi and Tosafot He then returned to Sosnowiec where he was a student of David Moshe Rabinowicz in Kibbutz Govoha Yeshiva.
When Zweigenhaft was 16 years old he began to study privately with Aryeh Tzvi Frumer from whom he received rabbinical ordination two years later. This was an extremely rare achievement, considering that Frumer only ordained a total of 5 out of several hundred students over the course of his life.
David Avraham Mandelbaum, in Frummer's biography describes Zweigenhaft as an example of one of the "best" Talmudic students in Poland. Mandelbaum also describes Zweigenhaft's relationship with Frumer as "extremely close".
Rabbi Zweigenhaft's father, grandfather and great-grandfather were shochtim. As a young boy Zweigenhaft had been privy to his family's masorah (transmission of Jewish religious tradition) of shechita stretching back hundreds of years. When Zweigenhaft was 14 years old and still studying in Amstov, the shochtim of the city encountered a halachic difficulty and summoned Dov Berish Einhorn for assistance. Einhorn asked Zweigenhaft to accompany him on his walk to the slaughterhouse. When they arrived, Einhorn began to contemplate the problem that the shochtim presented to him. Zweigenhaft then proceeded to deftly pick up the chalef (shechitah knife) and demonstrated how to perform the shechitah and resolved their issue. Einhorn was so impressed that from then on he would only eat meat if it was slaughtered by Zweigenhaft despite his youth. Shortly thereafter, Rabbi Einhorn proudly told Yitzchok Mordechai Rabinowicz (Chief Rabbi of Polavno) about Zweigenhaft. Rabinowicz requested that Einhorn send Zweigenhaft to him and then proceeded to teach Zweigenhaft the masorah of shechita that he had learned from his grandfather the Tiferes Shlomo of Radomsk. Thereafter, the Radomsker Rebbe would only eat meat from Zweigenhaft's Shechita. Year later, when the Minchas Elazar of Munkach visited Sosnowiec, he too would only eat from Zweigenhaft's shechitah.
At the age of 18, Zweigenhaft was shochet of Sosnowiec and by the time he was 20, he was also the shochet of several other cities in Poland, including Radomsk, Polavno, Amstov, Volbrum, Elkish and Tchebin, and was the Rosh Hashochtim of Sosnowiec.
In the mid-1930s Zweigenhaft was appointed one of the seven members of the Vaad Roshei Hashochtim of Poland and Lithuania a board of seven rabbis overseeing thousands of shochtim throughout Poland. In 1936, a bill outlawing Shechitah was introduced in the Sejm (Polish legislature). Despite being the youngest member of the Vaad, Zweigenhaft was selected to perform Shechita in front of the assembled legislators and demonstrate that shechitah was a quick humane form of animal slaughter. Together with an intense lobbying effort, this led to the Sejm allowing the practice to continue, although it was restricted with a maximum quota.