Hagaon Harav Yitzchak Tuvia Weiss, Zt”l, Gaavad of the Eidah Chareidis

Klal Yisrael was plunged into mourning Motzoei Shabbos, upon learning of the petirah of Hagaon Harav Yitzchak Tuvia Weiss, zt”l, Gaavad of the Badatz Eidah Chareidis of Yerushalayim, early Shabbos morning after an illness.

Many tefillos were held on his behalf in recent weeks, but alas the gezeirah was sealed and the Gaavad was niftar at the age of 95, in the Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in Yerushalayim.

Due to being a late summer Motzoei Shabbos, the levayah is set to be held Sunday morning at 10 a.m. (local time), from the Eidah Chareidis headquarters in Kikar HaShabbos, and from there to Har Hazeisim, where the Gaavad will be buried, next to his first Rebbetzin, a”h. Hundreds of thousands are set to attend the levayah.

The Gaavad, Harav Yitzchak Tuvia Weiss, was born in Elul 5686/1926, in Slovakia, in the city of Pezinok, near Pressburg. His parents were Harav Shlomo Zalman and Rickel Weiss, z”l. According to the family, as soon as the war broke out in 1939, and the Rav of the city, Harav Yehoshua Yehuda Shillel, zt”l, had to escape Nazi aggression, the heads of the community decided to appoint Rav Shlomo Weiss to deliver the drashos each Shabbos for the community.

Already in those days, sparks of leadership were evident in the young boy, Yitzchak Tuvia. He spoke with pathos to the hearts of young children, and told them that they should not stumble on forbidden matters even during those troubling times. He urged them to remember where they come from, as they had all grown up in staunch Torah homes.

He managed to escaped Slovakia on a Kindertransport, leaving his parents and family behind. He arrived with the Kindertransport in London after Shavuos of 1939.

After his bar mitzvah, which was held far from his family, young Yitzchak Tuvia began to learn in the yeshivah of Harav Moshe Schneider, zt”l, in London. It’s noteworthy that Harav Moshe Sternbuch, shlita, the Raavad of the Eida Hachareidis, and, lhbch”l, his brother Harav Eliyahu Sternbuch, zt”l, a Dayan in Antwerp, also learned there. He later learned in the Gateshead Yeshivah.

After his marriage, to Rebbetzin Esther, a”h, nee Fleishman, in 1950, he returned to Gateshead for a few years, where he learned in Harav Eliyahu Dessler’s kollel. In time, when Rav Dessler moved to Eretz Yisrael, Rav Yitzchak Tuvia was appointed Rosh Kollel.

A few years later, when he returned to live in London, his reputation began to spread. He became a maggid shiur in the yeshivah of Harav Eliyakim Schlesinger, shlita, and also began to be meshamesh in hora’ah under Harav Shlomo Baumgarten, zt”l, the president of Kollel Shomrei Hachomos in London. He was also the one who appointed Rav Weiss as Rav in the Eitz Chaim shul, Nusach Sephard.

In 5727/1967, he was appointed a Dayan in Khal Machzikei Hadas in Antwerp, a role he served until he was appointed Gaavad of the Eidah Hachareidis. He also served as a maggid shiur at the yeshivah in Wilrijk, near Antwerp.

His central role in those days was relating to kashrus matters. He was able to greatly improve the kashrus network in the city, and implemented vital changes. Many still remember how he went from store to store to check the work of the mashgichim. At the same time, he was also a main gabbai tzedakah for Kollel Shomrei Hachomos, and many tzedakah matters passed through him.

Although he was a noted Dayan in Antwerp, he had no shul of his own. Throughout the years he davened in the Gerrer shtiebel, and served as the unofficial Rav there.

After the petirah of Hagaon Harav Yisrael Moshe Dushinsky, zt”l, in Adar II 5763/2003, on Rosh Chodesh Nissan the Eida Hachareidis gathered for a meeting to select the next Gaavad. At first, one of the prominent Rabbanim in New York was a lead candidate, but on one vote, his candidacy was rejected. Another name – an unfamiliar one – was raised: Harav Yitzchak Tuvia Weiss.

Apparently the members of the Eidah realized that they had to put an end to the ongoing saga and choose a worthy candidate for the position, and in a rapid vote, a majority decided to select Rav Yitzchak Tuvia as the Gaavad, a position he held for the next 19 years.

He led the Eidah Chareidis to new heights, and set new standards in the kashrus field.

The Gaavad led a Kollel in Yerushalayim, first in the Galanta beis medrash, and later in a beis medrash that was built near his home, in the Gush 80 neighborhood. He also served as Rosh Yeshivah in Yeshivas Chochmas HaTorah in Yerushalayim, where he delivered shiurim.

He had a close connection to many Rebbes and Rabbanim, notably the Pshevorsker Rebbes – from Antwerp; the Rebbes close to the Eidah Chareidis, notably the Satmar Rebbe, the Divrei Yoel, zy”a; the Gerrer Rebbes; the Skulener Rebbes, zt”l. The Gaavad also had a special connection to the Steipler Gaon, and to his son Harav Chaim Kanievsky, zt”l.

The Gaavad is survived by, lhcbh”l, his only son, Harav Shlomo Zalman of Yerushalayim; his daughters, who are married to Harav Elimelech Zilbiger, a Breslov mashpia in Beit Shemesh; his brother Harav Avraham Zilbiger, zt”l, of Manchester, who was niftar several months ago; and Harav Shlomo Meir Lindebaum, and hundreds of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Yehi zichro baruch.