YWN regrets to inform you of the Petira of the Chief Rabbi of Amsterdam, HaGaon HaRav Meir Just ZATZAL, at the ripe age of 100, after a short hospitalization.
HaRav Just ZATZAL, with whom an interview appeared in the Pesach issue of Sha’ah Tova, was born in Vizhnitz where his father was the Gabbai of the Vizhnitzer Rebbe, the Ahavas Yisrael and the composer of many Vizhnitzer niggunim.
HaRav Just learned in Yeshivos in Grosswardein, Vizhnitz and Frankfurt and attended the Knesia gedola in Marienbad.
For the last 47 years he stood at the helm of the Kehillah in Amsterdam and he was known as a mumchah in Gittin, Eiruvin and kashrus. Although he was a soft-spoken, goodhearted person, he did put up strong fights against any breach of Torahtrue Yiddishkeit. He had a phenomenal memory and could discuss any sugya in shas with a tremendous clarity.
Despite his old age he still gave regular shiurim until a few weeks ago.
Yehei Zichro Boruch.
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29 Responses
BD’E.
How large is the frum (Chasidish?) community in Amsterdam?
Boruch dayan ho’emes.
He was no longer the Chief Rabbi of Amsterdam – this has been Rav Aryeh Ralbag from NY for some years already. Rav Just remained, until his death, the senior dayan in Holland, the ultimate authority on everything related to issues like, as mentioned, eiruvin, mikvaos I believe also, gittin and kashrus.
The levaya will be in Eretz Yisroel. I don’t think anyone has details yet.
The Levayeh will take place Sunday morning in Amsterdam and Sunday night in Eretz Yisroel
I met him on a business trip to Amsterdam.
He made a great impression on me.
A great Tzadik.
A great loss to the kehilla in Amsterdam.
For those who do not know how to read between the lines Mr Breslauer comment #2, “A mumcha in Eiruvin” and “put up strong fights against any breach of Torahtrue Yiddishkeit” refers to his fight against Rabbi Ralbag’s Eiruv he has been pushing since the days he actually lived in Amsterdam where he served as a rabbi UNDER R’Yust. See halachic journal “Noam” vol 21 and R’ Yust’s sefer where he takes apart everything Rabbi Ralbag said and wrote.
Edited.
re #2: Rav Ralbag, who many years ago was a dayan in Rav Just’s beis din, indeed took over the position, but doesn’t live in Holland and only visits there sporadically. Behind the scenes Rav Just ztsl was still very much involved in all aspects of Yiddishkeit. Many people would only rely on kashrus related affairs if Rav Just’s authority was behind it.
The levaya leaves from Shamgar to Har HaZeisim Sunday at 18:30.
to #1 :
The Chasidish community is not very large in amsterdam, its mostly Yekish.
to #3 :
Motsei Shabbos there will be a gathering in memory of Rav Just in the Obrecht Shul at 22:30.
The Levaya will be in Israel, Leaving from Ter Kleef (holland) on Sunday 7:00 – Leaving from Shamgar, Jerusalem at 18:30 to Har Hazeisim.
to #6
Rav wosner in his teshuva sefer shevet halevi, and rav yisrael yaakov fisher in his sefer even yisrael, and i believe even rav waldenberg in tzitz eliezer all wrote teshuvos agreeing with rav ralbags teshuva which he published in noam,
when we learned eruvin in kollel these teshuvos were part of what the oilam hatorah delved into.
i think even the popular sefer eshed hanecholim from rav eisenshtein in yerushalaim brings the halachik basis of the teshuvo, in his sefer on eiruvin.
I dont believe there was any halachik rebuttal in rav justs sefer, he didnt want to have an eruv in amsterdam based on rav ralbags teshuvo with the heter of dalsos haruyos linoel, claiming that it is impossible to build, however the metzius is not like that and it was built with all the specifications and requirements of the teshuva. i understand the eruv is currently up and functioning based on rav ralbags teshuva and the haskomes of the above written teshuvos. so if rav just had his opinion he was clearly entitled too, but the above mentioned gedolim begged to difer and clearly agreed with rav ralbag, so for #6 to brush it off, is clearly coming from negios.
as for #7 rav ralbag and his beis din that took over a number of years ago was in charge of all the kashrus in the city, any time you ate on a klm flight it was rav ralbags beis dins hechsher, the same goes for the shechita and gittin in amsterdam.
BARUCH DAYAN HA’EMETH
Rav Just ZTL. Probably the last of the generation of Zadikim and well known respected Rabbis of the famous Amsterdam Kehila.
I knew him personaly very well, beside him beeing a great and world wide respected Talmid Chacham and scholar, he alway’s had a good word for the needy: he fought stupidities in the Dutch Jewish Community for many years, he put up strong fights against any breach of Torah true Yiddishkeit” of politicts within the Jewish Comunity of Amsterdam: (Ralbag)… was and will never be the person who will be able to replace our beloved Rav Just ZTL. We will never forget him!
May he rest in peace
Does anyone know if the Rosh Kollel Rabbi Schatz has moved to Eretz Yisroel?
B.D.E
Rav Yust was a great rabbinic figure from the eldest Rabbonim of Europe, he was close to the Ahavas Yisrael of Vishnitz, and even participated in the Knessia gedola in Marienbad in 1936.
Being The former Chief Rabbi of Amsterdam he upheld and was mechazek the yiddishkeit in the city especially the kashrus and chinuch of the city.
As for the eruv there was a halachik dispute between rav Ralbag who at the time was a Dayan (and currently the chief Rabbi and av beis din of amsterdam) and rav Yust. But talmidei chachomim dispute in Halacha never took away from the mutual respect one had for another.
As a matter of fact, Rav wosner in his teshuva sefer shevet halevi, and rav yisrael yaakov fisher in his sefer even yisrael, and i believe even rav waldenberg in tzitz eliezer all wrote teshuvos agreeing with rav ralbags teshuva which he published in noam,
when we learned eruvin in kollel these teshuvos were part of what the oilam hatorah delved into.
i think even the popular sefer eshed hanecholim from rav eisenshtein in yerushalaim brings the halachik basis of the teshuvo, in his sefer on eiruvin.
Rav Yust being the Av beis at the time had his opinion and didnt want the eruv based on dalsos horuyos linoel in Amsterdam, His main halachik rebuttal in his sefer is that the authorities wont let it and it is impossible to build, ultimately a couple of years ago when Rav ralbag was appointed as the new av bais din it was allowed and ended up being built with all the specifications and requirements of the teshuva. i understand the eruv is currently up and functioning based on rav ralbags teshuva and the haskomes of the above written gedolim’s teshuvos.
rav Yust was clearly entitled to his opinion, but the heter ultimately had the backing of the above mentioned gedolim and clearly agreed with rav ralbag.
Eventhough the new av bais din currently still lives in NY but he appointed a beis din and comes every few weeks to the city. they are currently in charge of all the kashrus, gittin and shechita in the city, also all klm flights meals are under the bais dins supervision.
“I dont believe there was any halachik rebuttal in rav justs sefer”
he didnt want to have an eruv in amsterdam based on rav ralbags teshuvo with the heter of dalsos haruyos linoel, claiming that it is impossible to build,
“however the metzius is not like that and it was built with all the specifications and requirements of the teshuva.”
Why don’t you look at what he wrote in his sefer?
He makes it very clear that the metzius is NOT the way R’ Ralbag described it, that the gedolim who agreed with his teshuva did so because they were deliberately misled as to the real facts on the ground, that the guy in charge of the eruv in Yerushalayim came to check out what really goes on in Amsterdam and therefore agreed with R’ Yust.
“i understand the eruv is currently up and functioning based on rav ralbags teshuva and the haskomes of the above written teshuvos.”
so if rav just had his opinion he was clearly entitled too, but the above mentioned gedolim begged to difer and clearly agreed with rav ralbag, so for #6 to brush it off, is clearly coming from negios.
THEY DIFFERED BECAUSE THEY WERE FED LIES! as R’ Yust wrote and printed in his sefer.
as for #7 rav ralbag and his beis din that took over a number of years ago was in charge of all the kashrus in the city, any time you ate on a klm flight it was rav ralbags beis dins hechsher, the same goes for the shechita and gittin in amsterdam.
Elsewhere on this site you will find an article about Hagaon Rav Padwa being appointed chief rabbi of Amsterdam by the heimish oilom because they can’t deal with a rabbi who writes lies to gedolim.
The fact is also that R Ralbag was appointed on condittion that his name would NOT appear on the KLM hechsher (which is under R’ Wolf) due to his connection to a kashrus agency which is known to be far from mehudar.
to b.d.e
When Rav Yust became chief Rabbi tens of years ago, he prohibited the use of the eiruv that was being used for many years in Amsterdam. You can well imagine that this did not sit well with the Jews in Amsterdam. A couple of years ago, Rav Ralbag was appointed chief rabbi of amsterdam after promising he would reinstate a eiruv and would arrange for women to sit on the board of the jewish community – something which had never been allowed by any rabbi in holland. as to the eiruv of rav ralbag, he did write rav Waldenberg, ztz”l, and he did agree to what rav ralbag wrote but afterwards Rav Yust wrote to Rav Waldenberg and described the situation in Amsterdam as it really was and Rav Waldenberg then retracted his heter.
to #8
are you sure they will bury him in har hazeisim? His wife and son are buried in the Sanhedria cemetery so it would be logical he would also be buried there.
#12 Yes, Rav Shatz lives in now in Eretz Yisroel
#10/13 Unfortunately matters were not as simple. The Tzitz Eliezer writes in the back of his sefer (in the mafteach if I remember well) that he found out, after having written the tshuvoh, that the facts of the eiruv were not as presented to him (by Rav Ralbag) and that his tsuvoh was lehalocho and not lemaaseh! The same will apply to all the other gedolim who paskened on the same shaaleh!
Today’s eiruv in Amsterdam is built without consultation of any reliable posek besides Rav Ralbag and his beis din themselves and they did not allow outsiders to inspect it!
Rav Ralbag has also allowed women to be voted in the board of the Kehilla, something Rav Just ztsl managed to stop all the years that he was in charge.
re the Kashrus: The man in charge is Rav Wolf who is indeed very knowledgeable and reliable, and many people will only eat it because of his hashgochoh.
#14 15 17, i looked in his sefer! as a matter of fact we in our kollel in yerushalaim learned all the tzdadei hashaalo in noam and in rav yisrael yaakov fishers sefer (as many kollelim who learn eruvin do). i hate to say it but there isnt much halachic rebuttal in r yust’s sefer, besided some bickering about the metzius. So as a matter of fact stop misleading people and the metzius is something that can be checked out, the fact is that it took rav ralbag a number of years even after he was appointed av beis din in amsterdam to get the exact requirements from the authorities approved, and therefore the facts are exactly as in the teshuva, something that can be checked out by anyone that is interested in the eruv, so to spread a lie about the gedolim that there was a retraction is the biggest bizayon hatorah and not at all lichvodn the niftar either. even rav waldenberg only wrote that his teshuvo is lemaaseh if the metzios is so. well currently the metzios is exactly with every specification as in the original teshuvo, so it pretty foolish to argue about a fact that can be misbarer. At the time we learned eruvin i once even asked reb yisrael yaakov Fishers son and told me that his father never even thought of retracting and therefore made sure to publish it in his sefer, knowing that politics and not halacha was causing the tumult.
as per the rav of yerushalaim r’ eisenbach that came to check out the eruv, that was in the early seventies before the noam was even printed, so would have nothing at all to do with the teshuva.
Interestingly enough Rav Padwa from england also agreed with the heter and printed it in his sefer. His son was never appointed chief rabbi and merely came to amsterdam to give shiurim, as he himself will openly admit.
the biggest lie is to say that the gedolim were fed lies, something which the metzius can be disproven being for the fact that the metzius is exactly as in the teshuva, that is why reb yisrael yaakov never thought of retracting and made sure to print it in his own sefer so any haskoma on the heters metzius was never retracted.
#17 Rav Wolf who is a dayan currently under Rav Ralbag, told me that he discussed as per shliach of rav ralbag with Maran Rav Ahron leib Shteinman the want of dutch women on the board, and it was done by permitting women just on a board which has no halachic power what so ever just monetary, like many orginizations have in the usa too. so stop with your motzi shem rah and rechilus.
sorry the women on the board was not even monetary power, it was just an ADVISORY board, which rav shteinman didnt find any problem with halachically due to the circumstances
#18/19/20: Get your facts right and stop confusing the issues.
The Eiruv: No recognized mumcha on eiruvin has ever been brought in to check the metzius. So how do you claim to know that the metzius is as you portray. The current Beis Din didn’t even allow Rav Just to inspect the eiruv.
Re the woman on the board. They certainly have voting right and can therefore enforce proper decisions on kehilla matters. The name of Hagaon Harav Shteinman can now be added onto the list of Rabbonom who deliberately were misinformed about the existing situation.
Rav Pinchas Padva, who is a grandson, not a son, of the Cheishev Ho’efod is indeed Rav of the Beis Medrash Eitz Chaim, not a chief Rabbi of Amsterdam.
These are the facts as seen by inhabitants of Amsterdam, which are surely more accurate than you will be able to discover as an avreich in a kollel in Jerushalayim
to mr gaby: before accusing others of misrepresenting facts and rechilus, etc., look in the mirror and then say it. Firstly about women in the board: the board is not merely advisory which is why the Rabbanim throughout all the decades refused alowing women join it until rav ralbag decided that he must allow them in order to become chief rabbi. one of the female board members has been appointed “parnas” (the accepted terms were parnas and parnassim – now it is supposed, she has to be called a parnassa…) The parnassim EXECUTE the DECISIONS of the board (not merely advisory but decisive ). Also, rav ralbag promised them beforehand that he will arrange women to sit on the board so when he went to ask “daas gedolim” (much like Esau asking Yaakov if salt has to be maaasered…) he put it in such a way that the dutch won’t listen to him anyway so what should he do….also stressing the incorrect point that the board is ‘only’ advisory, plus there was an explicit psak of the former Chief Rabbi of Holland Rabbi Aharon Shuster, ztsal, who was Chief Rabbi from after W.W.II for decades,prohibiting women from ever being members of the board, a fact that the gedolim were not notified…
and back to the eiruv: why didn’t Rav Ralbag agree to show Rav Just zatsal, the eiruv when he asked to see it? Rather he answered him that it’s too strenuous, too tiring and and not for his health to see the whole thing….!
hakineh, hataaveh, VEHAKOVOD motziim es ho’odom min haolom.
I hope Rav Just will be a meilitz yosher for klal yisroel – he loved Jews and gave up his life and his health in order to provide for them only the best in kashrus and kehilla needs. Which is more that can be said for others….
“bickering about the metzius”
That makes the whole difference!!!!!
If the metzius is DIFFERENT the entire eiruv is NOT kosher!!!!
R’ Yust printed his sefer not in the 70’s, not in the 80’s and I think not even in the 90’s but in the 00’s.
He was still in Amsterdam at the time but R’ Ralbag had moved back to NY many years before.
Obviously he was still bothered by the fact that someone had tried to mislead the gedolim without doing teshuva even then!
Your claim that the eiruv only went up recently, very recently that is, only shows that up to that point there was NO possibility for a kosher eiruv, years after the gedolim had paskened that there was no problem with the “eiruv”.
Thank you!
The truth will prevail!
Reb Just, Z’L was never afforded the kovod he truly deserved. He was a gevaldige Talmid Chochom, had a tremendous memory, and came from the ‘old generation’ who never gave in to the more ‘modern’ and ‘stubborn liberal’ attitude of the Amsterdam and Dutch Jewish Community as a whole. I had the zechus to visit him on many an occasion. Always with a smile, remembered our previous conversations that had taken place months earlier. Knew Shas and Poskim ‘blind’. He held firmly on the Eruv issue (against) and whilst Amsterdam has one today (to my knowledge it is not checked weekly)like in most cities where politics reigns, there are people who use it and visa versa…
I think it’s time for some people to pay their respects and ask for Mechila…knowing Rav Just I am sure he would provide it.
May he be a melitz yosher for Klal Yisrael
Just a note on Rav Padwa who has been brought in to re kindle some truly needed yidishkeit into this Kehilla…and seems to be doing well.. (I dont think Amsterdam, which is a predominantly Yekkish kehilla, has ever seen 8 Streimels in one Bes Hamedrash at one time which was the case over Pesach!!) Rav Padwa currently in Amsterdam is not the son of the Rav Padwa z’l who was the Av beis din of the Union (Kedassia) but is the nephew.
I only wonder why it was necessary to instigate the Eruv once the new (unpaid)Chief Rabbi was appointed. It only created further unneceesary rifts, all for the sakeof….politics, sorry – yiddishkeit!
#21 if the local beis din (who one cannot deny are world renowned mumchim on eruvin) wrote a psak din and approved an eruv why would, and why should someone else have to inspect it, if that is your bais din you as a city have accepted it, it is what you as a inhabitant have to adhere too, it doesnt mean you have to carry but its pretty foolish to slander it, being that its your rabinate. since when in history does a local beis din need approval from others?
I am not “guessing about the metzius” but was told so specifically by Rav Wolf who i still remember from my ponovizh days as an ehrliche talmid chochom.
#23- exactly! the truth will prevail, you took the words out of my mouth, rabbi ralbag wolf and evers (the beis din) only recently put the eruv up in place, because ralbag only recently moved back as av beis din, the heter was in place 30 years ago, but it was only lacking implementation, meaning getting permission from the local authorities, that is how it is with every eruv in the whole world, according to your thinking no psak or teshuva is ever valid in theory before it receives approval from the local authorities, that is pure nonsense, exactly! that proves the point that when it was eventually put up, only recently, it was with the conditions of the original teshuva, meaning the haskomos of the greatest gedolim of our generation. all this was confirmed to me by rav wolf, your dayan, so i am not just talking as an avreich in jerusalem.
Some logical facts you should get straight, the gedolim agreed 100 precent to the psak if the metzius can be accomplished, if it took 30 years to accomplish so what, that doesnt mean there was no possibility at the time to accomplish such an eruv, aderabeh rav wosner even writes in his teshuva to be mezarez the city to fier this ois, just because it took 30 years to do because of bickerers like you, doesnt take away ki hu zeh from the gaonos of this world renowned teshuva in hilchos eruvin, at least if you would argue with some halachik basis it would give the oilam hatorah what to discuss, but i guess mr daas torah only has the daas torah not the yedios hatorah.
I think we should just mention the chashivus of the great niftar without discussing pros and cons of other rabbis (whether they wear shtreimlach or not, or are more or less heimish, or live locally or supervise Hebrew national or not). I have the impression that all the names mentioned are well-meaning rabbonim, who all do some good. Yira DeShchivei is not a reason to besmirch others we don’t agree with.
Dayan Pinchos Toledano of Amsterdam Portuguese (Sephardi) Community held also against the eiruv of R. Ralbag. R’ Just ZTSL was also many years on BeisDin of Sephardi community, which tradionally had better standing than the kehillo led by R’ Ralbag
I am not familiar with the conditons surrounding the eiruv of Amsterdam, so I will keep quiet on this. However, another custom was mentioned, the one to allow women to serve on the Board of the kehillah. before i give my my two cents on this, can the ones who oppose this show the source for such an issur? Actually, there are plenty of halachic sources who allow women to serve on Boards, albeit not sas President (even this may be allowed, according to some authorities), It behhoves the ones who prohibit this to show some sources.