# Moshe Shatzkes > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Moshe_Shatzkes > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Moshe_Shatzkes.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moshe_Shatzkes > Source revision: 1344830724 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Lithuanian-Belarusian Orthodox rabbi, Talmudic scholar, and rosh yeshiva This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article needs more citations. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Moshe Shatzkes" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. Please help improve this article by citing more sources. Find sources: "Moshe Shatzkes" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (March 2026) (Learn how and when to remove this message) **Moshe Shatzkes** ([Hebrew](/source/Hebrew_language): משה שאצקס; 1881 – December 29, 1958) was a [rabbi](/source/Rabbi) and renowned [Talmudic](/source/Talmud) scholar, commonly known as the [Łomża](/source/%C5%81om%C5%BCa) Rov". ## Early years Shatzkes was born in [Vilnius](/source/Vilnius), [Lithuania](/source/Lithuania) in 1881. His father, Rabbi Avraham Aharon Shatzkes, was the spiritual leader of Vilnius who was known as the "Illui mi Zhetel"[1] (the Genius from [Dzyatlava](/source/Dzyatlava)). When Shatzkes was three years old his father died and soon after his mother married [Yitzchak Blazer](/source/Yitzchak_Blazer). Shatzkes studied at the [Slabodka](/source/Yeshivas_Knesses_Yisrael_(Slabodka)) and [Telz](/source/Telz_Yeshiva) yeshivas. In 1904, he received [semicha](/source/Semicha) (rabbinical ordination) from [Refael Shapiro](/source/Refael_Shapiro), [Eliezer Gordon](/source/Eliezer_Gordon), and Eliezer Rabinowitz.[1] His son in law was the great talmid of Yeshivas Chaim Berlin, R Tzvi Hersh Levenberg. ## The Rabbinate His first rabbinical position was in Lipnishuk,[1] near Vilnius, in 1909. In 1914, he was appointed rabbi of the nearby larger town of [Iwye](/source/Iwye).[1] He was regularly invited by the [Chafetz Chaim](/source/Yisrael_Meir_Kagan) to important rabbinic gatherings. He was vice-president of the Agudath HaRabbanim in Poland. In 1931 he became rabbi and [Av Beth Din](/source/Av_Beth_Din) of [Łomża](/source/%C5%81om%C5%BCa).[1] His time in Łomża was marked by anti-Jewish demonstrations, the outlawing of [kosher slaughtering](/source/Shechita) and a boycott of Jewish shops. Many Łomża Jews fled and the community gradually declined. With the [Hitler-Stalin pact](/source/Hitler-Stalin_pact) in August 1939 on the division of Poland, Łomża was transferred to the [Soviet Union](/source/Soviet_Union). Shatzkes escaped the city by night to Vilnius, which was later handed over by the Soviets to Lithuania. Along with many others, [Shimon Shkop](/source/Shimon_Shkop)'s yeshiva, *Sha'ar HaTorah* of [Grodno](/source/Grodno), had fled to Vilnius. After Shkop's death Shatzkes was appointed by Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski to succeed him as *rosh yeshiva*. Shatzkes was active in refugee and yeshiva affairs while in Vilnius. After the city was re-captured by the Russians, he travelled via Russia to Japan, having received a Japanese permit from [Chiune Sugihara](/source/Chiune_Sugihara), the Japanese temporary consul in [Kovno](/source/Kovno). Arriving in [Kobe](/source/Kobe) by boat in May 1941, Shatzkes immediately renewed his relief efforts for the almost five thousand Jewish refugees there. They included many yeshiva heads and almost the entire [Mir Yeshiva](/source/Mir_Yeshiva_(Poland)), who had fled Poland and Lithuania. He befriended the Japanese scholar [Setzuso Kotsuji](/source/Setzuso_Kotsuji), a friend of Japan's Foreign Affairs minister, and with his help he aided the fleeing of thousands of refugees. Shatzkes was selected by the refugee community as one of their two representatives (the other being the [rebbe](/source/Rebbe) of [Amshinov](/source/Amshinov_(Hasidic_dynasty)), [Shimon Sholom Kalish](/source/Shimon_Sholom_Kalish)) to the Japanese government. Shatzkes reached America in 1941. He was immediately appointed a senior Rosh Yeshiva at [Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary](/source/Rabbi_Isaac_Elchanan_Theological_Seminary),[1] remaining in this role for the rest of his life. He also served as a council member of the [Agudath HaRabbanim](/source/Agudath_HaRabbanim) of the United States and Canada. Along with [Joseph B. Soloveitchik](/source/Joseph_B._Soloveitchik) and [Samuel Belkin](/source/Samuel_Belkin), Shatzkes was a member of the Rabbinical Ordination Board at the seminary, granting *semicha* to 425 of its graduates. Shatzkes was a friend of [Yitzchak Halevi Herzog](/source/Yitzchak_Halevi_Herzog), chief rabbi of Israel, and had been a friend of both the [Chofetz Chaim](/source/Yisrael_Meir_Kagan) and [Chaim Ozer Grodzinski](/source/Chaim_Ozer_Grodzinski) before the [Second World War](/source/Second_World_War). He delivered eulogies at both their funerals. ## Death He died on December 29, 1958, in [Brooklyn, New York](/source/Brooklyn%2C_New_York), at the age of 77. ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-YU_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-YU_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-YU_1-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-YU_1-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-YU_1-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-YU_1-5) ["Harav Hagaon R. Moshe Shatzkes ZT"L 1882–1958"](https://www.yu.edu/riets/about/mission-history/historic-roshei/moshe-shatzkes). *YU.EDU*. Yeshiva University. Retrieved 16 December 2020. v t e Roshei Yeshiva of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary at Yeshiva University Deans Aryeh Lebowitz Yosef Kalinsky Dean Emeritus Menachem Penner Senior Mashgiach Ruchani Yosef Blau Mashgichim Ely Bacon Josh Blass Roshei Yeshiva Elchanan Adler Assaf Bednarsh Eliyahu Ben Haim J. David Bleich Yitzchok Cohen Daniel Z. Feldman Menachem Genack Meir Goldwicht David Hirsch Dovid Horwitz Eliakim Koenigsberg Dovid Miller Yaakov Neuburger Hershel Reichman Michael Rosensweig Hershel Schachter Ezra Schwartz Eli Baruch Shulman Baruch Simon Zvi Sobolofsky Daniel Stein Mayer Twersky Jeremy Wieder Mordechai Willig Former Roshei Yeshiva Avraham Eliezer Alperstein Nisson Alpert Yosef Leib Arnest Samuel Belkin Yehuda David Bernstein Abba Bronspiegel Ahron Dovid Burack Avigdor Cyperstein Solomon Drillman Henoch Fishman Yitzchok Ginsberg Ozer Glickman Yerucham Gorelick Aharon Kahn Michael Katz Shlomo Nosson Kotler Norman Lamm Yaakov Moshe Lessin Aharon Lichtenstein Zvulun Lieberman Dovid Lifshitz Moses Meir Matlin Shraga Feivel Paretzky Yehuda Parnes Shlomo Polachek Moshe Aharon Poleyeff Elazar Meir Preil Bernard Revel Shimon Romm Yonason Sacks Melech Schachter Moshe Shatzkes Shimon Shkop Ahron Soloveichik Joseph B. Soloveitchik Moshe Soloveichik Ephraim M. Steinberg Moshe Tendler Shmuel Volk Joseph Weiss Shalom Elchanan Yaffe Gershon Yankelewitz Mendel Zaks Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF WorldCat National United States Israel Other Open Library Yale LUX --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Moshe Shatzkes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moshe_Shatzkes) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moshe_Shatzkes?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.