Memory Lane: The Gvodzitz-Sadigerer Rebbe

It was the late 1960’s, and the Jewish presence in the Bronx was declining due to a variety of factors. It was then that the Gvodzitz-Sadigerer Rebbe, Rav Dovid Moshe Schapira, a scion of Ruzin and other dynasties opened his beis medrash in Boro Park, where it continues to exist until this day. 

Gwoździec

To appreciate the origins of the Rebbe, we trace his roots to the hamlet of Gwoździec in Galicia, where his father, Rav Yitzchok Mordechai expanded the glorious Ruziner dynasty from its primary center in Ukraine. 

Rav Yitzchok Mordechai was a grandson of Rebbe Chaim Meir Yechiel Schapira of Molgenitza, known as “the Saraf,” who was a son in law of the Koznitzer Maggid. His mother was the daughter of Rav Avrohom Yaakov of Sadigura, a son of the Heiliger Ruziner. 

Rav Yitzchok Mordechai remained in Gvodzetz until the outbreak of WWI, when so many of Galicia’s Jews escaped to Vienna. Rav Dovid Moshe grew up among the great Rabbonim and Admorim who found themselves in Vienna in the interwar period. 

In 1924, he married Alta Bas Tzion, the daughter of Rav Shlomo Chaim Perlow of Balchov, the son of Rav Yaakov, the founder of the Novominsker dynasty. In 1930, Rav Yitzchok Mordechai was niftar, and interred in Vienna. 

Rav Dovid Moshe and his Rebbetzin waited long years to be blessed with a child. In 1935, eleven years after their marriage, they were finally blessed with a son, whom they named Yitzchok Mordechai. 

The Nazi reign of terror and murder came early to Vienna, as Rav Dovid Moshe would later recall: 

“November 9, 1938, a day before the infamous date of November 10 —when nearly all the men were interred in a concentration camp—my mother met an individual who would be mispalel at the tziyun of my father every day. She gave him a kvittel on my behalf to be placed there on the following day—as though she had knowledge of what was about to transpire. The next day, the Nazis burned all the shuls, and I hid in the home of a neighbor. About 1:00 in the afternoon, I heard a group of Nazis banging on our door, yelling, “where is that Schapira!” I remained where I was, deathly afraid. Not finding me, they ran from house to house, with revolvers drawn… and it was only because Hashem concealed me from their eyes that they did not find me.

“The next day I encountered that Yid, who told me that he placed the kvittel with my father at precisely 1:00 in the afternoon.” 

From Vienna, the family escaped to London. Young Yitzchok Mordechai was sent to the British countryside, with other refugee children, while his parents endured the bombings of London.  

America  

Finally, they were able to emigrate to America. Upon his arrival, he established a beis medrash in the Bronx. 

He spoke to his landsleit: “I am impressed with the initiative of American Jewry. I see how the landsleit organize themselves, in which every town from Europe has its own union, and they assist one another, and send funds back home. How would Yiddishkeit be able to continue in Europe if not for the tremendous relief—through affidavits and money— that their American brethren send their way?  

“The entire life back home was annihilated… but here in America the tradition continues. Try as best you can to continue the life from our hometown…” 

As noted, Rav Dovid Moshe relocated to Boro Park in 1969. He kept a close relationship with many Rabbonim and Admorim, specifically those from the Ruziner dynasty. His shul attracted many of the she’eris hapleitah which lived in Boro Park in those days, and he was known for his unique caliber of Torah, chassidus, and middos tovos. He was niftar in 1988, at which time his son, Rav Yitzchok Mordechai took over the leadership of the shul. 

He was a musmach of Torah Vodaas, and a close talmid of Rav Yaakov Kamenetzky. In yeshiva he was known to utilize every moment for learning, and this was a quality that remained with him. In addition, he was steeped in chassidishe seforim, and would regularly share vignettes with those who gathered around him. 

Upon his passing in 2006, his son R’ Shlomo Chaim Yeruchom has faithfully undertaken to continue the shul, maintaining the glorious legacy of Gvodzitz-Sadigura in Boro Park to this day.