Baruch Sorotzkin
| Rephoel Baruch Sorotzkin | |
|---|---|
| Position | Rosh Yeshiva |
| Yeshiva | Telz Yeshiva |
| Began | 1964 |
| Ended | February 10, 1979 |
| Predecessor | Chaim Mordechai Katz |
| Successor | Mordechai Gifter |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 5, 1917 Dzyatlava, Grodno Governorate, Russian Empire (Belarus) |
| Died | February 10, 1979 |
| Buried | Har HaMenuchot |
| Nationality | Lithuanian & American |
| Denomination | Haredi Orthodox Judaism |
| Parents | Zalman Sorotzkin |
| Spouse | Rachel Bloch |
| Children |
Yitzchok Sorotzkin Binyomin Sorotzkin Eliyahu Meir Sorotzkin Rassia Busel Chenia Schulman Shoshana Herzka Chassie Brog |
Rephoel Baruch Sorotzkin (February 5, 1917 - February 10, 1979) was the Rosh Yeshiva of the Telz Yeshiva in Cleveland and among American Jewry's foremost religious leaders.
Sorotzkin was born on February 5, 1917 (13th of Shevat, 5739) in Zhetl, in the Grodno Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Belarus). His father, Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin was the town's rabbi. As a young man, Sorotzkin studied under Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman in Baranovich, and then under Rabbi Baruch Ber Lebovitz in Kamenitz.
In 1940, Sorotzkin married Rochel Bloch, daughter of the Telzer Rav and Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Bloch. Rabbi Sorotzkin and his wife fled Europe at the start of World War II and made their way to the United States. There, they joined his wife's uncles (and his own cousins) Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Bloch and Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Katz who had re-established the Telz Yeshiva in Cleveland, Ohio.
In 1943 Sorotzkin began delivering classes in the yeshiva. In 1953 Sorotzkin was appointed associate dean of the yeshiva. In 1962 Sorotzkin became dangerously ill and the name Rephoel was added to his name. In 1964, when the Telz Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Katz died, Sorotzkin together with Rabbi Mordechai Gifter assumed the leadership of the yeshiva.
In the Telzer tradition, Rabbi Sorotzkin extended his sphere of activities to include even more areas of communal responsibility, such as working for Chinuch Atzmai, Torah Umesorah and Agudath Israel of America where he served as one of the youngest member of its Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah - Council of Torah Sages.
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