Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman

Rabbi Kahaneman was born 13 May 1886 in Kul, Kovno Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Lithuania), a small town of about 300, of which about a third were Jews.[1]

As a young boy he attended the Yeshivah in Plungė led by Rabbi Chaim Yitzchak Hacohen Bloch, who is credited with cultivating Kahaneman's potential.[2] At the age of 14, he went to study Talmud at the Telshe yeshiva, where he studied Torah until he was twenty, under the tutelage of Rabbi Eliezer Gordon and Rabbi Shimon Shkop. He then spent half a year in Novardok yeshiva, after which he spent three years in Raduń Yeshiva studying under the Chofetz Chaim and Rabbi Naftoli Trop.

He married the daughter of the rabbi of Vidzh, and became rabbi there at the end of 1911, when his father-in-law became the rabbi of Vilkomir (Ukmergė).

With the passing of Rabbi Yitzhak Yaakov Rabinovich in 1919, Kahaneman was appointed the new rabbi of Ponevezh. He built there three yeshivas, as well as a school and an orphanage. All of these institutions were destroyed - and many of his students and family killed - during World War II.

He was elected to the Lithuanian parliament. He was also a member of the autonomous National Council of Lithuanian Jewry and an active member and leader of Agudat Yisrael.

The outbreak of World War II caught him during his visit to the British Mandate of Palestine, after which he was intending to visit the United States. Learning about the Red Army's occupation of Lithuania, he decided to stay in Palestine. He continued, from a distance, to oversee the Ponevezh Yeshiva. After the entrance of the Nazis in Ponevezh, the yeshiva was destroyed and all students were murdered. A few years later, in 1944, Kahaneman succeeded in re-establishing the Ponevezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak. After unsuccessful attempts to save European Jews, Kahaneman focused on developing communities in Palestine, building Kiryat Ha-Yeshiva ("Town of the Yeshiva") in Bnei Brak and Batei Avot orphanages. He also traveled widely in the diaspora to secure financial support for the yeshiva, which he constantly improved and extended. With the help of long time friend Rav Moshe Okun, Kahaneman succeeded in turning the re-established Ponevezh yeshiva into one of the largest in the world- a leading one among the Litvishe.

He sought to take care of many orphans, especially the Yaldei Tehran ("Children of Tehran") – children who escaped from Nazi Europe by walking across Europe to Tehran - as well as other refugees, among them Biala Rebbe – Rabbi Ben Zion Rabinowitz.[3] He referred to his numerous activities as doing them with "21 fingers" - the fingers of his hands (10), feet (10), and the finger of God (1).[4]

Kahaneman died on 3 September 1969 in Bnei Brak, Israel. After his death the Ponevezh Yeshiva community divided into two over the conflict on leadership.[5]

Kahaneman wrote Talmudic commentaries and an exegesis on the Passover Haggadah, though these - together with transcripts of his lessons - were published only after his death.

• Lithuanian Jews
• Ponevezh yeshiva