Aharon Moshe Kiselev

Chief Rabbi of Harbin
Began 1913
Ended 1949
Other Chief Rabbi of the Far East 1937-1945
Personal details
Born 18 September 1866 (9 Tishrei 5627)
Surazh, Russian Empire
Died 9 September 1949 (15 Elul 5709)
Harbin, Soviet Zone
Alma mater Volozhin Yeshiva
Semicha Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski

Aharon Moshe Kiselev (1866-1949) was a Russian-born Manchurian rabbi who served during two major upheavals: mass deportations/displacement of Jews in the Western provinces of Russia during World War I,[1] and during World War II, assisting Jewish refugees.

Early life

Kiselev was born in Surazh, Chernigov district. In his youth, he excelled in his studies, and was known as the “Vietker Illui”. He later studied in Minsk, and in Volozhin under the tutelage of Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik. He was the rabbi of Barysaw from 1900 to 1913.

Harbin

His 1913 arrival was 2 years after some governmental changes that resulted in "Jews evicted from Siberia are flocking here."[1]

A Jewish St. Petersburg newspaper[2] wrote: "The city's Jewish population grows each year." The area's 3 synagogues could have used three new rabbis, but he was it. Kiselev, a graduate of the famous Volozhin yeshiva was invited to the city from Russia in 1913.[1]

With the encouragement of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, he arrived in Harbin in 1913 to serve the city’s three synagogues.[3]

In December 1937, at the first annual Far Eastern Jewish Conference, he was declared ‘Chief Rabbi of the Far East’.[4]

Kiselev led Agudas Chasidei Chabad in Harbin. During World War II, he assisted many Jewish refugees who had fled German-occupied Europe.[5]

Works

  • Mishberei Yam (1926) - a collection of responsa[6]
  • Imrei Shefer (1951) - a compilation of sermons posthumously published by his widow[7]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Prof. Victoria Romanova (March 19, 2012). "The Tiny Island of Russian Jews". JewsOfChina.org.
  2. ↑ translation: "Dawn"
  3. ↑ Chernolutskaya, Elena (Winter 2000). "Religious Communities in Harbin and Ethnic Identity of Russian Emigrés". South Atlantic Quarterly. 99 (1): 82.
  4. ↑ Shilloni, Ben-Ami (2012). The Jews and the Japanese: The Successful Outsiders. p. 183.
  5. ↑ Schneerson, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok (1982). Igros Kodesh Rayatz Vol. 2 (in Hebrew). p. 329.
  6. ↑ משברי ים - Mishberei Yam at HebrewBooks.org
  7. ↑ אמרי שפר - Imrei Shefer at HebrewBooks.org
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