Memory Lane: Rabbi Yosef Mordechai Baumol, zt”l

The Rabbonim of the Baumol family of Krościenko (pronounced Kroshtzinka), Galicia, were renowned, brilliant Rabbonim in the period prior to the war. The three brothers, Rav Naftali Hirtz, Rav Yoel Moshe, and Rav Yehoshua were invited to serve in Rabbinic positions around Poland at a very young age. Those who remained there tragically perished. Those who made to America illuminated this barren land with their brilliant scholarship.

Krościenko 

Rav Yosef Mordechai was born to his father, Rav Yoel Moshe, in the year 1911. He had been enrolled in Yeshiva Chachmei Lublin, and grown close to its Rosh Yeshiva. But since the Yeshiva did not allow two brothers to learn there at the same time, he gave up his seat in the yeshivah so his brother Rav Yehoshua, zt”l, Hy”d, may learn there. This was perhaps an indication of his lifelong sacrifice and dedication for the Torah education of others.

Rav Yosef Mordechai came to the United States in 1932 due to the dire situation in Poland—at the behest of his uncle, rav Yehoshua Baumol who was the rav of Khal Adas Yeshurun in Williamsburg, led the Agudas Harabanim, and was a leader in Agudas Yisroel. 

In 1935, Rav Yosef Mordechai married his first cousin Frieda Baumol, the daughter of his uncle, the aforementioned Rabbi Yehoshua Baumol, in Brooklyn. Together, they established a beautiful Torah family. 

In 1976, he published the second and third volumes of his father in law’s responsa, Emek Halachah. In the introduction to this, he added an addendum” Shlosha Doros”, in which he writes about his family: “My grandfather, Rav Nachum, was appointed to the Rabbanus of Krascianka at the age of 19, and when I was a mere boy of 12, my father sent me to learn Torah at his feet. The impression that he made on me remains imprinted on me to this day. The home of my father, Rav Yoel Moshe (who inherited the Rabbanus of Kraschnianka) was filled with an elevated air…a gathering place for the greatest Rabbonim of Galicia. Shabbos and Yom Tov were an intense spiritual journey, and we could see how our father donned his neshomoh yeseirah…

When his Rebbetzin passed away, he settled in Eretz Yisroel, where he abandoned all other pursuits for the love of full-time, intense Torah study. Here he published a number of seforim, his own as well as manuscripts written by his family members. When he wasn’t engaged in intense Torah learning, he served as a beacon of inspiration and information to many of the younger generation who came to learn from him. 

Boro Park 

After a number of years, he returned to the United States, and to his last moments, Rabbi Baumol’s love for Torah was unbridled. In his later years, he retired to a home for seniors in Boro Park. Here he kept a chavrusah with a talmid chacham with whom he toiled in learning for many hours each day—a man in his nineties!

Recalls one Boro Park resident from those days: “I merited to be close to Rav Yosef Mordechai during his last years when he resided in a Boro Park old age home. There is much to write on his incredible personality; a distinguished and esteemed individual, a vestige from the previous generations, a talmid chochom and bar da’as. 

“He published Machsheves Achim from his younger brother, Rav Yehoshua Baumol, Hy”d, a prize talmid of Rav Meir Shapiro, and also wrote his brother’s biography, which was later translated into English. He also published Shemen Ra’anan, a collection of the droshos that he gave over the years. It should be noted that during the years that he served as a rov in Crown Heights, hundreds would stream to hear him on Shabbos Shuvah and Shabbos Hagodol. According to someone who was present, his droshos resembled those of his great rebbi, Rav Meir Shapiro.” 

Rav Baumol was niftar in Boro Park on 29 Sivan of the year 2006, and was interred in Eretz Yisroel.