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Chaim Avraham Dov Ber Levine (1859/1860 – 1938), known as "the Malach" (lit. "the angel"), was a rabbi and founder of the Malachim (Hasidic group).

Biography

Levine was one of the closest followers of Sholom Dovber Schneersohn, the fifth rebbe of Lubavitch, and was the tutor of his son, Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn. Upon his arrival in New York in 1923, he was welcomed by Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz, the rosh yeshiva (dean) of Yeshiva Torah Vodaath in Brooklyn.

Levine parted ways with the Lubavitch group, and the Malachim became separate from the Lubavitch movement. However, he continued to teach Chabad works from the first generations of the movement, and subscribed to the core theosophy of Chabad. After Levine's death, Yankev Schorr led the group.

References

1. The sustaining utterance: discourses on Chasidic thought Adin Steinsaltz, Yehuda Hanegbi - 1989 "...the most prominent were the Maggid of Mezritch and the son of the Maggid, Rabbi Avraham, who was called the "Malach" (Angel)."
2. Jerome R. Mintz Hasidic people: a place in the new world 1992, p. 21, "Such a man was Rabbi Chaim Avraham Dov Ber Levine HaCohen, a respected Lubavitcher rabbi and sage who was known as the Malach (Angel). In 1923 he had emigrated to the United States where he received the respect and honor accorded a distinguished Talmudic scholar.1 In Europe the Malach had been held in high esteem by Rabbi Sholom Dovber Schneersohn (1860-1920), ..."
3. Orthodox Judaism in America: a biographical dictionary and sourcebook, p. 153, Moshe D. Sherman - 1996 "A frequent visitor to Mesivta Torah Vodaath during the 1920s was Rabbi Chaim Avraham Dov Ber Levine HaCohen, known as the Malach (the Angel). A saintly and charismatic Lubavitch scholar, the Malach was admired by Mendlowitz, ..."
4. Edgework: Boundary crossing among the Hasidim, p. 31, Hella Winston, City University of New York - 2006 "Several other distinguished rebbes also made visits to the United States during this time, and, in 1923, Rabbi Chaim Avraham Dov Ber Levine HaCohen ("The Malach", or Angel), a respected Lubavitcher rabbi, settled in New York City and ..."
5. Hasidic people: a place in the new world, p. 26, Jerome R. Mintz - 1992 "They were too conscious of the Malach's sense of rejection from Lubavitch. Instead, new leadership of the M'lochim came from within the group. Rabbi Yankev Schor, one of the early students, was named as rabbi, but he shared..."

External links

• "The Malach" by Dr. Yitzchak Levine, Jewish Press, August 6, 2015 Biographical sketch of the Malach and his son Zalman.
• Rabbi Chaim Avroham Dover Levine (Cohen) at kevarim.com
• Rabbi Raphael Zalman Levine at kevarim.com Includes a scan of biographical sketch of R' Zalman on his fifteenth yartzeit, by Prof. Reuven Sugarman, Yated Neeman, July 13, 2007 p. 38-39.

• 1938 deaths
• American Hasidic rabbis
• People from Williamsburg, Brooklyn
• Chabad-Lubavitch related controversies
• 1859 births