Memory Lane: Rav Rephael Aryeh Bunimowitz

Among the many plaques affixed on the walls of Congregation Shomrei Emunah hangs a memorial to one Rav Rephael Aryeh Bunimowitz, “Rebbe fun unzer Chofetz Chaim Class,”  who was niftar in the year 1960. We have written here extensively about Yeshiva Etz Chaim, known as Hebrew Institute of Boro Park, and those who founded and led the institution. Rav Bunimowitz, who hailed from old Lita, taught the advanced Gemara class. 

The Old World  

Rav Rephael was born to his father, R’ Chaim, in Grodno, Poland in the year 1879. He was a descendant of the famed Rav Raphael Hakohen of Hamburg—a nephew, talmid, and successor of the Sha’agas Aryeh—and may have been named for his zeide. 

In 1897, he published a sefer on ibbur hachodesh which garnered haskomos from the Rabbonim of the region. In it he writes that he intends to publish more seforim, but we don’t know of any that have later.  

In 1923, he set out for America and arrived in Boro Park, and taking up residence at 1520 51st Street. In his immigration papers, he is noted for his occupation as a Rabbi, and that his passage was paid by the congregation. The ‘mission’ was to serve the congregation. Upon his arrival, a notice appeared in the Yiddishes Taggeblat inviting all Volozyner landsleit to gather at the Volozyner shul on Madison Avenue to greet the rov who had just arrived. 

“At the beginning of the last World War Rav Rephael was appointed by the Russian government as the “Kriegs-Rabbiner. Also, at this meeting, you will have the opportunity to meet Rav Berlin’s mother, the famed Bashe Mirel, the almonoh of the Netziv.” 

While we do not know the extent of his shiurim in Chofetz Chaim, and others that he may have delivered in Boro Park’s Shomrei Emunah, the plaque does attest to this, and given the proximity to his home, it is very likely that this is where he became a member—at a time when Boro Park did not offer very many choices in Shuls. 

Yeshiva Eitz Chaim 

As noted, Rav Bunimowitz taught gemoro in Yeshiva Eitz Chaim. 

Alan Dershowitz, who has taught law at Harvard Law School for decades, was a student at Yeshiva Eitz Chaim during the years Rabbi Bunimowitz was there. For high school, he went to Brooklyn Talmudical Academy, which was an offshoot of the school (created by Rav Moshe Shulman so the Boro Park boys shouldn’t need to travel all the way to Manhattan for nigh school). 

He relates: “I wasn’t smart enough to get into Rabbi Bunimowitz’s class. But I recall that we all revered him, and that he was respected by students and faculty alike.” 

Rabbi Nosson Shulman recalls: “Rav Bunimowitz was very well-liked by the faculty and students. He was a very nice man. A rebbi of the old style, who expected the students to follow him. He spoke in Hebrew, as the yeshiva famously taught “ivrit b’ivrit”—but it was in an Ashkenzic dialect, since he came from Lita. He was a fascinating personality…”  

When Rabbi Bunimowitz spoke in English, it was likewise with a true Litvishe accent that was typical of the many marbitzei Torah during that era—and this is how he is remembered by his talmidim to this day. 

One talmid recalls that “the class was divided in two, with the more proficient students going to learn Gemoro under Rabbi Bunimowitz. He demanded a lot from his talmidim. “Those who understood him learned very well under him,” he recalls. “We started with him when we were in the sixth grade… and learned under him for three years. The level developed as the years went on—and he tailored his instruction to us accordingly—ultimately helping us in becoming proficient in Gemoro, Rashi, and Tosafos. 

Thus, hundreds of talmidim today carry the impact from their years of learning under Rav Rephael Bunimowitz. He was niftar on the 12th of Teves of the year 1960, and was interred on Montefiore Cemetery, following decades of harbotzas Torah in Boro Park of yore.