Yosef Yosel Hurwitz
(1849 - 1919)
Rabbi Yosef Yosel Hurwitz, the Alter of Novorodock,
was a true radical. As a young man, he was deeply engaged in business
and the support of his family. However, at the age of 27, he met Rabbi
Yisrael Salanter and the impact of that meeting shook him to the foundations
and completely transformed the direction of Reb Yosel’s life. He
threw himself into study and spiritual matters. His whole life was now
based on total, radical faith, and he became completely disengaged from
material concerns.
He established a large yeshiva in Novorodock and was
responsible for creating a whole network of yeshivas. Reb Yosel believed
that abnormal times required a radical approach which demanded total
immersion in spiritual matters without consideration for the amenities
of existence. His major work is appropriately named Stature of Man.
In 1919, while he was in Kiev, a plague broke out and while caring for
the sick, Reb Yosel himself became ill and succumbed on the 17th day
of Kislev.
Sources: Orthodox
Union |