Monsey Memories: Rav Tzvi Hirsh Meisels, zt”l, Veitzener Rov

By: Yitzi Fried

On 92 Main Street stands an ancient building, One of Monsey’s oldest shuls, Beth Israel of Monsey—whose storied history we will hopefully chronicle one day. Unbeknownst to many, in 1970, an extremely important personality was appointed as its Rov, for an extremely short time.

A prominent Rov of Vác (Veitzen), in the Pest region of Hungary, he survived the Holocaust and rebuilt from the Churban with incredible leadership—nurturing thousands of Talmidim in postwar Europe, and in Chicago, where his Torah empire continues to thrive.

He was born to his illustrious father, rav Dovid, a author of Binyan Dovid, and his caliber and brilliance was recognizable from a young age, and he received semicha from Rav Meir Arak, and others.

He married the daughter of the Limanover Ruv, who was a brother-in-law of the Kedushas Zion of Bobov, zt”l, Hy”d, and Rav Tzvi Hirsh became very close to him, traveling to him a number of times.

In 1925, he became a Rov and Rosh Yeshiva in Neirmark, a town near the Hungarian-Galician border, and in 1937 he became the Ruv in Vác, where his reputation went out as a great leader and figure. Sadly, the serenity of these short years was not to last.

The stories of his heroism and influence during the terrible war years could fill volumes. In the summer of 1944, he and his community were sent to Auschwitz.

Upon arriving there, a Nazi, ym”sh, tore off his precious talis kotton which he has as an inheritance from the Yetev Lev of Sighet. This caused him terrible anguish.. but a short time later, the Nazis two hands were chopped off, and he came to ask forgiveness from Rav Meisels, returning the precious tzitzis to him.

His dedicated himself to administering to the broken souls who were around him in Auschwitz —fearlessly risking his life to save the lives of others, and to perform the mitzvos of shofar, sukkah, Dalet minim, and others.

Following the war, he was in Bergen Belsen, where images from that time tell the story of a leader who breathed new life into the broken Yidden who had lost everything. He taught them Torah, and he nurtured their souls with love and holiness.

Thus, he shaped thousands of Talmidim.

Arriving in America in 1947, he went to the Midwest, to Chicago, where he established a community upon the foundations of valiant and uncompromising Yiddishkeit, and a yeshiva that continues to thrive to this very day.

In 1970, he was in Monsey for a short time, as we see from the entries of Torah journals featured here. From there he went to Williamsburg, where he was niftar in the winter of 1974.

He left behind beautiful generations, and a wealth of writings in all areas of Torah—a lasting legacy from this giant, Rov, and Marbitz Torah who had witnessed the worst of times, and rebuilt with heroism and tenacity, and for a time, in Monsey of Yore.