Memory Lane: The Spinka Rebbe

Rav Yaakov Yosef Weiss was a scion of the Spinka dynasty. Following the Churban, he immediately set to work ensuring that the legacy of Spinka would remain alive. He established institutions in Boro Park of yore, and his legacy is continued by his children around the world. 

Spinka 

The Rebbe was born in the spring of 1916 in the town of Spinka, Romania. His father was Rav Yisroel Chaim Weiss, the eldest son of the Chakal Yitzchok of Spinka, who was the son of the Imrei Yosef, the first Spinka Rebbe. His mother was Rebbetzin Chava Sarah who hailed from the dynasties of Sanz, Ropshitz, Belz, and others.

His grandfather, the Chakal Yitzchok, served as the sandak at his bris, at which time he was named Yaakov Yosef for his grandfather, Rav Yaakov Yosef Rubin of Glogow. 

His mother left this world a day after his birth, and he was raised by his grandfather, the Spinka Rebbe. He was greatly influenced by growing up in this illustrious home, and in the court of Spinka. As a child, he learned in cheder in Munkatch, and by the time he was fifteen years of age, his grandfather would ask him to speak before the community in the great Shul of Selish, where they lived, as well as deliver shiurim in the yeshiva in town. 

He would also daven before the amud often, and when the ba’al tefillah of the big shul of the town was absent, his grandfather would send young Yaakov Yosef to daven before the amud there, saying that he awakens the hearts of people to teshuvah. 

In 1938, the Rebbe became engaged to Rebbetzin Malka, the daughter of Rav Alter Menachem Mendel Hager of Borşa, Romania, a scion of the Viznitzer dynasty, and the wedding took place in Borşa later that year in the presence of Rabbonim and Admorim from within the families and without. 

The Rebbetzin was a wise woman, and a yiras Shomayim. She was active in Bnos Agudas Yisroel in Marmorosh, and in establishing a Beis Yaakov school in the region. “She possessed a good heart and sterling middos, just like her father,” wrote one writer who remembered the Rebbetzin.   

Two daughters and one son were born to the couple before the war; Chava Sarah, Sheina Rochel, and Pinchos. They, together with their mother, met their fate at the hands of the Nazis, ym”sh, on the 29th of Iyar, 1944.  

America 

Arriving in America, he settled on the Lower East Side at first, and later in Crown Heights, where his home was a center of hachnosas orchim for refugees from the war who had nowhere else to go. They would make their way to the home of the Spinka Rebbe in droves, and they would be greeted with a smile and outstretched arms by the Rebbe himself. The Rebbe’s friendliness and his heartfelt overtures, remained etched in the memories of these she’eris hapleita Yidden for a long time to come. 

Spinka hails from the Zidichoiver dynasty, and the nusach hatefillah in Spinka thus comes from Zidichoiv. It is a unique and heartfelt nusach, and—just like he did all those many years before in Selish—the Rebbe would daven before the amud with a tremendous sweetness and emotion. His tischen would also be unique for their warmth and divrei Torah which greatly inspired all those present. 

The Rebbe founded institutions both in America and in Eretz Yisroel, where they continue to exist, having shaped thousands of talmidim over the decades.

Even after the war, the Rebbe was no stranger to tragedy. After all that he had lost during the war, the Rebbe lost two esteemed sons, Rav Abish and Rav Yitzchok, in his lifetime. The Rebbe carried his pain stalwartly and stoically inside of him, but it took its toll. He was stricken with paralysis, as well as other diseases which ravaged his body.

After many years in Boro Park, the Rebbe moved permanently to Bnei Brak where he was niftar on Chol Hamoe’d Sukkos of the year 1988, leaving behind three sons who continue his illustrious legacy. The Rebbe was interred in Petach Tikvah following enormous levayos which escorted him to his final resting place.