Shmuel Abba Twersky

Grand Rabbi Shmuel Abba Twersky
Title	Makarover Rebbe of Winnipeg, Canada
Personal
Born	Abba Avraham Shmuel Twersky 1872 Ukraine
Died	1947 (aged 74–75) Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Religion	Judaism
Spouse	Rickel Twersky
Children	2
Parents	Grand Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Twersky (father) Chavah Rokeach (mother)
Began	1927
Ended	1947
Other	Makarover Rebbe of Berdichev, 1920–
Yahrtzeit	14 Sivan 5707
Buried	Shaarey Zedek Cemetery, Winnipeg
Dynasty	Makarov

Abba Avraham Shmuel Twersky (1872–1947),^[1][a] known as Shmuel Abba Twersky,^[3] was a Rebbe of the Makarover Hasidic dynasty. He succeeded his father as Makarover Rebbe of Berdichev, Ukraine, in 1920, and presided as Makarover Rebbe of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, from 1927 to 1947.

Early life and family

Shmuel Abba Twersky was born to Grand Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Twersky (1844–1920),^[2] a direct descendant of the Chernobyl Hasidic dynasty, who was the Makarover Rebbe of Berdichev and Kiev.^[3] His mother Chavah was a daughter of Yehoshua Rokeach, the second Belzer Rebbe.^[3] Shmuel Abba married his first cousin, Rickel Twersky, the daughter of his father's brother, David Twersky of Kiev.^[1][3] They had one son and one daughter.^[1] As a young married man, he was known for his proficiency in Torah study.^[1]

Upon his father's death in 1920, he and his brother Tzvi Aryeh (d. 1938) became Makarover Rebbes in Berdichev.^[1][2] Later he briefly moved his court to Mezerich.^[1] In the wake of pogroms during the 1917–1921 Ukrainian War of Independence, he and his family fled to Riga, Latvia.^[1]

Canada

The Makarover Hasidic community in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, included numerous members who had immigrated there due to the Ukrainian pogroms. They invited Twersky to be their leader.^[3] Twersky's move was stalled by two years of bureaucratic red tape.^[1][3] Finally he was cleared for immigration and departed by ship from Cherbourg, France, in December 1927.^[1] According to an article in the local Yiddish newspaper, he was greeted at the Winnipeg train station by "several hundred Hasidim".^[1][4]

His community bought him a house on Flora Avenue, where a large number of Jewish immigrants resided.^[1] Later he moved to Boyd Avenue, where he opened a beth midrash in his house.^[1][3]

Twersky was a prominent leader of the Winnipeg Jewish community.^[5][6] However, he distanced himself from community discord and in-fighting.^[3]

On June 12, 2022, a group of Belz Hasidim organized an overnight stay in Winnipeg with the help of Rabbi Tzvi Altein of the Winnipeg Chabad in order to pray for the Holy Spirit of the Tzadik Twersky after many decades that people have not been to his holy grave and to say kadish for the Rabbi in form of a minyan.^{[clarification needed][citation needed]}

May the holy tzadik Rest In Peace and be mashpia and makir tov to them and to all of yisroel.^[relevant?]

Personal life

Twersky's wife and two children joined him over two years after his arrival in Winnipeg.^[1] His wife died suddenly in February 1930 at the age of 54.^[1] Twersky's son Yitzchak Yaakov became principal of a Talmud Torah in Halifax, Nova Scotia; Twersky also had a daughter, Tzipporah.^[3]

Twersky died on 2 June 1947 (14 Sivan 5707).^[1][7] He was buried in an ohel in the Shaarey Zedek Cemetery in Winnipeg beside his wife.^[7][5] Many people came to pray at his ohel in the years after his death.^[1]

Notes

1. Other sources place his birthdate as 1885^[2] or 1888.^[3]

References

1. Sofer, Rabbi Yishai (10 June 2010). "Harav Shmuel Abba Twersky, zt"l, of Makarov – Winnipeg On His 63rd Yahrtzeit" (PDF). Hamodia. p. C3. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
2. "Makarov". History of Jewish Communities in Ukraine. 23 July 2017. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
3. Lapidus 2004, p. 10.
4. Lapidus 2004, p. 5.
5. Jewish Historical Society of Western Canada 1983, p. 51.
6. Levine 2009, p. 139.
7. "Rabbi Twersky Dies in Hospital". The Winnipeg Tribune. 3 June 1947. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.

Sources

• Jewish Historical Society of Western Canada (1983). Jewish Life and Times. Vol. IX. ISBN 9780969125686.
• Lapidus, Steve (2004). "The Forgotten Hasidim: Rabbis and Rebbes in Prewar Canada". Canadian Jewish Studies. 12.
• Levine, Alan (2009). Coming of Age: A History of the Jewish People of Manitoba. Heartland Associates. ISBN 978-1896150529.