Page 22 - HaMizrachi Yom Yerushalayim - Shavuot 5782 USA

On Yom Yerushalayim

Rabbi Shalom Noach Berezovsky zt”l

Rabbi Shalom Noach Berezovsky (1911–2000), known widely as the
“Nesivos Shalom,” the title of his immensely popular writings, moved
to Palestine as a young man in the early 1930s. In 1941, he opened the
Slonimer Yeshiva in Jerusalem with only five students. The Slonim

dynasty was almost entirely destroyed in the Holocaust, and the
yeshivah soon became the center of its revival in Eretz Yisrael. In
1954, Rabbi Berezovsky’s father-in-law, Rabbi Avraham Weinberg
(known as the “Birkas Avraham”), became the Slonimer Rebbe, a

position Rabbi Berezovsky would ultimately assume in 1981.

Although it was intended primarily for Slonimer Chassidim,
the Nesivos Shalom has become one of the most popular and
influential Chassidic works of our generation, studied and
cherished by Jews across the religious spectrum. It is notable for
its clarity and lack of difficult Kabbalistic terminology, making

it accessible to readers without a strong Chassidic background.

Known for his deep love for Eretz Yisrael, Rabbi Berezovsky
adamantly refused to leave the Land of Israel for even a short period
of time. During the nineteen years between the Independence War
and the liberation of the Old City of Jerusalem in 1967, he yearned

desperately for the Kotel, insisting that the Slonimer Yeshivah
“Beis Avraham” be built as close as possible to the Old City and
the Jordanian lines, despite the dangers. After the liberation,

he was among the first Rabbinic figures to reach the Kotel.
The following speech, given only a few days after the Six

Day War, expresses the Rebbe’s deep appreciation for Eretz
Yisrael, Jerusalem and the miracles of our time.

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