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Shlomo Heiman, (1892–1944) known informally as "Reb Shlomo", was a rabbi, Talmudist, and rosh yeshiva. He led some of the most prominent yeshivas in Europe and the United States.

Early life

Shlomo Heiman was born in Paritsh, Minsk in Belarus to Michel Heiman, a rabbi. When he was 12, he went to the yeshiva in Kaminetz to study under Baruch Ber Lebowitz, with whom he was very close. In 1918, he married the daughter of Yochanon Rudensky of Volozhin, the brother-in-law of Simcha Zelig Riger of Brisk, the dayan for the Brisker Rav.

After his marriage, Lebowitz asked Heiman to be a lecturer at the yeshiva in Kaminetz, which by this time had been wandering from Slobodka to Krementchug. It was at this time that Heiman developed a reputation for being one of Lithuania's most outstanding Talmudists. During World War I, he was briefly drafted into the Russian army. However, he still managed to review the entire tractate of Ketubot while serving on the front lines in the trenches.

After the war, Heiman began to deliver his Talmudic lectures in Ohel Torah of Baranowitz, under the leadership of Elchanan Wasserman. In 1927, at the request of Chaim Ozer Grodzensky of Vilna, Heiman became the rosh yeshiva of the Ramailles Yeshiva, a position he held until 1935.

In the United States

In 1935, Heiman was invited to New York by Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz, in order for him to come and lead Mesivta Torah Vodaath. With Grodzensky's approval, Heiman accepted this position, thereby being spared the horrors of the Holocaust. During Heiman's tenure at Torah Vodaath, the yeshiva experienced a period of significant growth.

Confronted with what he considered to be the ardent secularism of America, which threatened to smother any vestige of the Haredi way of life, Heiman once remarked that one whose own children do not pursue the path of Torah can compensate by teaching Torah to the children of others.

Death

Heiman died in 1945, at the age of 52. He was succeeded in the Ramailles yeshiva by Yisroel Zev Gustman, and in Torah Vodaath by Reuven Grozovsky.

Works

A two-volume compendium of Heiman's Talmudic novellae, Chiddushei Rabbi Shlomo, was printed after his death (in 1966), based on his own writings, and incorporating notes of his students. It was released by Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz, one of Heiman's greatest students. It is widely used in many yeshivos, and is considered a basic text among late acharonim. A later book, Shiurei Rabbi Shlomo ('The Lectures of Rabbi Shlomo), printed from the notes of Heiman's students, contains many lectures and novellae not published in Chidushei Rabbi Shlomo. A collection of some of Heiman's original thoughts on the Bible, as well as a few of his ethical discourses has also been published.

Notable students

• Shlomo Carlebach
• Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz
• Simcha Schustal
• Alexander S. Gross

References

1. Jewish Professionals Institute (JPI) - Holocaust Thesis Chapter 6 at www.jpi.org
2. Parshat Bamidbar 5763 - OU Torah Insights Project Archived 2012-09-05 at archive.today at www.ou.org

Sources

• In Reb Maille's Courtyard
• Bais Medrash Elyon Monsey - Bais Medrash Elyon Bnei Brak

v t e Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah
Europe World Agudath Israel	Past members Avraham Mordechai Alter Meir Arik Dovid Bornsztain Shlomo Zalman Breuer Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky Meir Simcha of Dvinsk Moshe Mordechai Epstein Avraham Yaakov Friedman Chaim Ozer Grodzinski Yisrael Meir Kagan Aharon Kotler Yitzchak Zelig Morgenstern Meir Dan Plotzky Yitzhak Yaakov Rabinovich Sholom Dovber Schneersohn Meir Shapiro Chaim Soloveitchik Zalman Sorotzkin Yehuda Leib Tsirelson Shmuel Dovid Ungar Elchonon Wasserman Menachem Ziemba
Israel Agudat Yisrael Degel HaTorah	Past members Pinchas Menachem Alter Simcha Bunim Alter Yisrael Alter Shlomo Zalman Auerbach Yosef Shalom Eliashiv Aryeh Finkel Nosson Tzvi Finkel Avraham Yaakov Friedman Avraham Yaakov Friedman Baruch Mordechai Ezrachi Yisroel Moshe Friedman Levi Yitzchak Horowitz Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz Isser Zalman Meltzer Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg Yitzchok Scheiner Elazar Menachem Shach Yitzchak Isaac Sher Yochanan Sofer Zalman Sorotzkin Dov Yaffe Shabsi Yogel Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman Gershon Edelstein Baruch Weisbecker Present members Yaakov Aryeh Alter Nachum Dov Brayer Menachem Mendel Hager Yisroel Hager Zvi Elimelech Halberstam Mayer Alter Horowitz Yissachar Dov Rokeach Moshe Hillel Hirsch Dov Lando Baruch Dov Povarsky Yitzchok Zilberstein Eliezer Yehuda Finkel
United States Agudath Israel of America	Past members Dovid Feinstein Moshe Feinstein Mordechai Shlomo Friedman Mordechai Gifter Refael Reuvain Grozovsky Shlomo Heiman Levi Yitzchak Horowitz Yitzchok Hutner Yaakov Kamenetsky Chaim Mordechai Katz Aharon Kotler Shneur Kotler Avraham Yaakov Pam Yaakov Perlow Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman Gedalia Schorr Eliezer Silver Joseph B. Soloveitchik Baruch Sorotzkin Yisrael Spira Elya Svei Mendel Zaks Aaron Schechter Present members Elya Brudny Hillel David Aharon Feldman Yosef Chaim Frankel Aharon Dovid Goldberg Yaakov Horowitz Shmuel Kamenetsky Malkiel Kotler Shlomo Miller Yerucham Olshin Yosef Harari Raful Yitzchok Sorotzkin Shimon Yehuda Svei
Category

v t e Pre–World War II European Yeshivos
Lithuania	Yeshivos Kelm Talmud Torah Ponevezh Yeshiva Ramailes Yeshiva Slabodka Yeshiva Telshe Yeshiva Notable roshei yeshiva Avraham Yitzchak Bloch Yosef Leib Bloch Moshe Mordechai Epstein Nosson Tzvi Finkel Eliezer Gordon Shlomo Heiman Tzvi Hersh Levitan Israel Salanter Yitzchak Isaac Sher Notable mashgichim Leib Chasman Meir Chadash Dov Tzvi Heller Ben Zion Kranitz Yeruchom Levovitz
Belarus	Yeshivos Baranovich Yeshiva Grodno Yeshiva Kaminetz Yeshiva Kobrin Yeshiva Mir Yeshiva Novardok Yeshiva Pinsk Yeshiva-Novardok Radin Yeshiva Slonim Yeshiva Slutsk-Kletsk Yeshiva Volozhin Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim Notable roshei yeshiva Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin Eliezer Yehuda Finkel Yosef Yozel Horwitz Yisrael Meir Kagan Elya Baruch Kammai Aharon Kotler Moshe Landynski Boruch Ber Leibowitz Isser Zalman Meltzer Pesach Pruskin David Rappoport Shimon Shkop Chaim Soloveitchik Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik Chaim Leib Tiktinsky Naftoli Trop Chaim of Volozhin Yitzhak of Volozhin Elchonon Wasserman Shabsi Yogel Notable mashgichim Shlomo Harkavy Yisroel Yaakov Lubchansky Yosef Leib Nenedik Zalman Dolinsky Sheftel Kramer
Poland	Yeshivos Keser Torah Radomsk Lomza Yeshiva Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva Mesivta of Warsaw Novardok Yeshiva Notable roshei yeshiva Aryeh Tzvi Frumer Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky Meir Dan Plotzky David Moshe Rabinowicz Meir Shapiro Avraham Yoffen Notable mashgichim Moshe Rosenstain Yehuda Leib Nekritz
Slovakia	Yeshivos Nitra Yeshiva Pressburg Yeshiva Notable roshei yeshiva Akiva Sofer Avraham Shmuel Binyamin Sofer Moses Sofer Simcha Bunim Sofer Shmuel Dovid Ungar
Western Europe	Yeshivos Gateshead Yeshiva Heide Yeshiva Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary Manchester Yeshiva Montreaux Yeshiva Torah Lehranstalt Yeshivas Chachmei Tzorfas Notable roshei yeshiva Eliyahu Botchko Solomon Breuer Joseph Breuer Chaim Yitzchok Chaiken Azriel Hildesheimer David Zvi Hoffmann Avrohom Eliyahu Kaplan Nachman Dovid Landinski Moshe Yitzchak Segal Shraga Feivel Shapiro Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg
Related articles	Yeshivas in World War II Vaad HaYeshivos
Category

• 1892 births
• 1944 deaths
• 20th-century American rabbis
• Haredi rabbis in Europe
• American Haredi rabbis
• Torah Vodaath rosh yeshivas