View source for Shlomo Heiman

{{Short description|American rabbi (1892–1944)}}
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*[[Ramailles Yeshiva]]
*[[Torah Vodaath]]
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| yeshivaposition  = [[Rosh yeshiva]]
| organisation     = [[Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah]]
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*[[Yisroel Zev Gustman]]
*[[Reuven Grozovsky]]
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| birth_date       = {{birth date text|1892}}
| birth_place      = [[Paritsh]], [[Minsk]], [[Belarus]]
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1944|12|03|1892|mf=y}}
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| yahrtzeit        = 17 [[Kislev]]
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| alma_mater       = [[Baruch Ber Lebowitz]]
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'''Shlomo Heiman''' (1892&ndash;1944) known informally as "Reb Shlomo", was a [[rabbi]], [[Talmudist]], and [[rosh yeshiva]]. He led some of the most prominent [[Pre-World War II European Yeshivos|yeshivas in Europe]] and the United States.

==Early life==
Shlomo Heiman was born in [[Paritsh]], [[Minsk]] in [[Belarus]] to Michel Heiman, a rabbi. When he was 12, he went to the [[Yeshivas Knesses Beis Yitzchak-Kaminetz|yeshiva in Kaminetz]] to study under [[Baruch Ber Lebowitz]], with whom he was very close. In 1918, he married the daughter of [[Yochanon Rudensky]] of [[Volozhin]], the brother-in-law of [[Simcha Zelig Riger]] of [[Brest, Belarus|Brisk]], the [[Dayan (rabbinic judge)|dayan]] for the [[Brisker Rav]].

After his marriage, Lebowitz asked Heiman to be a lecturer at the yeshiva in Kaminetz, which by this time had been wandering from [[Vilijampolė|Slobodka]] to [[Krementchug]]. It was at this time that Heiman developed a reputation for being one of [[Lithuania]]'s most outstanding [[Talmudist]]s. During [[World War I]], he was briefly drafted into the [[Imperial Russian Army|Russian army]]. However, he still managed to review the entire tractate of [[Ketubot (Talmud)|Ketubot]] while serving on the front lines in the [[trench warfare|trenches]].

After the war, Heiman began to deliver his Talmudic lectures in [[Ohel Torah of Baranowitz]], under the leadership of [[Elchanan Wasserman]]. In 1927, at the request of [[Chaim Ozer Grodzensky]] of [[Vilnius|Vilna]], Heiman became the [[rosh yeshiva]] of the [[Ramailles Yeshiva]], a position he held until 1935.

==In the United States==
In 1935, Heiman was invited to New York by [[Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz]], in order for him to come and lead Mesivta [[Torah Vodaath]]. With Grodzensky's approval, Heiman accepted this position, thereby being spared the horrors of [[the Holocaust]]. During Heiman's tenure at Torah Vodaath, the yeshiva experienced a period of significant growth.<ref>[http://www.jpi.org/holocaust/hlchp6a.htm Jewish Professionals Institute (JPI) - Holocaust Thesis Chapter 6<!-- bot-generated title -->] at www.jpi.org</ref>

Confronted with what he considered to be the ardent [[secularism]] of America, which threatened to smother any vestige of the [[Haredi Judaism|Haredi]] way of life, Heiman once remarked that one whose own children do not pursue the path of Torah can compensate by teaching Torah to the children of others.<ref>[http://www.ou.org/torah/ti/5763/bamidbar63.htm Parshat Bamidbar 5763 - OU Torah Insights Project<!-- bot-generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120905213552/http://www.ou.org/torah/ti/5763/bamidbar63.htm |date=2012-09-05 }} at www.ou.org</ref>

==Death==
Heiman died in 1944, at the age of 52. He was succeeded in the Ramailles yeshiva by [[Yisroel Zev Gustman]], and in Torah Vodaath by [[Reuven Grozovsky]].

==Works==
A two-volume compendium of Heiman's [[chidush|Talmudic novellae]], ''Chiddushei Rabbi Shlomo'', was printed after his death (in 1966), based on his own writings, and incorporating notes of his students. It was released by [[Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz]], one of Heiman's greatest students. It is widely used in many yeshivos, and is considered a basic text among late [[acharonim]]. A later book, 
''Shiurei Rabbi Shlomo'' ('The Lectures of Rabbi Shlomo), printed from the notes of Heiman's students, contains many lectures and novellae not published in ''Chidushei Rabbi Shlomo''. A collection of some of Heiman's original thoughts on the Bible, as well as a few of his ethical discourses has also been published.

==Notable students==
*[[Shlomo Carlebach]]
*[[Alexander S. Gross]]
*[[Shraga Moshe Kalmanowitz]]
*[[Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz]]
*[[Simcha Schustal]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*[http://www.chareidi.org/archives5763/VYK63features.htm In Reb Maille's Courtyard]
*[http://www.chareidi.org/archives5764/SCS64features4.htm Bais Medrash Elyon Monsey - Bais Medrash Elyon Bnei Brak]
{{Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah}}
{{Pre-World War II European Yeshivos}}
{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heiman, Shlomo}}
[[Category:1892 births]]
[[Category:1944 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American rabbis]]
[[Category:Haredi rabbis in Europe]]
[[Category:American Haredi rabbis]]
[[Category:Torah Vodaath rosh yeshivas]]