Remembering Denver’s rabbinic author

By Aaron Brooks

Rabbi Yehuda Leib Ginsburg’s 75th yahrzeit is Tishrei 27. Denver’s most prolific rabbinic author, he is also rememembered as a gentle and welcoming personality who, with his wife, conducted an open home.

His works on the Torah, Prophets, Mishnah and Shabbat — all with a distinct ethical bent — are studied around the world.

Rabbi Yehuda Leib Ginsburg was born in Dvinsk, Latvia in 1888. Although little is known of his younger years, Rabbi Ginsburg was clearly a high caliber Torah scholar from a young age. He was a student of some very well-known rabbinical figures of his time, including Rabbi Meir Simcha Hakohen of Dvinsk and Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski.

Rabbi Ginsburg himself names Rabbi Aryeh Leib Rubin of Wilkomirer as one of his teachers as well.

Rabbi Ginsburg was a yeshiva dean in the cities of Eishikok, Lithuania and Rezhitsa, Latvia and later a rabbi in Yaroslavl, Russia.

He and his wife Eta had two children, Moishe (Morris), born in 1920, and Yudis (Judith), born in 1925.

During the Russian Revolution many attempts were made to move Rabbi Ginsburg to the US, but they all proved to be unsuccessful.

In 1931 Rabbi Ginsburg and family were finally able to move to the US with the assistance of a certain Dr. Joseph Rosen of the Agro-Joint committee. Rabbi Ginsburg came to the US in March of that year and the rest of his family followed in October.

The family originally settled in New Haven, then quickly moved to New York.

Shortly after their arrival in the US, Rabbi Ginsburg was diagnosed with tuberculosis.

Treatment was originally attempted at the Hebraic Sanitarium in Browns Mills, NJ, but when that proved unsuccessful Rabbi Ginsburg was transferred to the Jewish Consumptives Relief Society (JCRS) in Denver.

Rabbi Ginsburg’s original intent was to return to New York upon his recovery.

In fact, the Assn. of Orthodox Rabbis of New York sent a letter to the JCRS before Rabbi Ginsburg arrived assuring that they would pay for Rabbi Ginsburg’s return trip to New York.

Eta Ginsburg and the two Ginsburg children remained in New York as Rabbi Ginsburg travelled to Denver for treatment. He arrived at the JCRS on Feb. 3, 1932.

By April of 1932 Rabbi Ginsburg had already decided that he wanted to move his entire family to Denver permanently.

Rabbi Ginsburg’s change of plans are explained in a letter sent from the JCRS back to the Jewish Social Service Assn. in New York.

The letter states:

“Rabbi Ginsburg is very anxious to remain in Denver if possible because the people here do not fear the presence of tuberculous patients as they do in the East.

“He tells us that he was welcomed in a number of homes in Denver, while he felt very sensitive to visit friends in New York.”

It is nice to hear that the unique hospitality that infuses so many of Denver’s Jewish homes nowadays was present almost 100 years ago.

Rabbi Ginsburg left the sanitorium on June 30, 1932 to succeed the late Rabbi Isaac A. Braude as the rabbi of Congregation Zera Israel (also known as “The Litvishe Shul”) on the west side of Denver. He was later joined by his family and spent the rest of his life there.

The Ginsburg family lived on 1553 Grove St. and later moved to 1530 Irving St.

Rabbi Ginsburg was loved by all. Although he was paid only a small amount by Zera Israel, a fund was started to support him and his family while he published several books on Jewish law and lore.

It was reported that the Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Jews of Denver contributed to the fund, thereby supporting Rabbi Ginsburg in his endeavors.

In Pioneers, Peddlers, and Tsadikim, Ida Uchill wrote, “His home was one of the friendliest and most hospitable in the city. There were always five or six guests eating with him while his fragile wife served them.

“His genius did not prevent him from being one of the most easily approachable men in the community, and his pleasant wit made everyone comfortable with him.”

Rabbi Ginsburg served as the president of the Denver Council of Orthodox Rabbis and was an executive board member for the National Mizrachi and the Union of Orthodox Rabbis.

He also played an active role on the Vaad Hatzalah board.

In 1935 Rabbi Ginsburg handwrote a letter in Hebrew encouraging the community to give charity to National Jewish Hospital. The letter has been preserved digitally and can be viewed today.

To[dropcap] say that Rabbi Ginsburg was a prolific author would be an understatement. He published his first book, Yalkut Yehudah, on the book of Genesis, in 1931. Between the years of 1933 and 1944 he proceeded to publish 10 more books on various topics (as outlined below).

In an act of humility and respect, Rabbi Ginsburg attributed his ability to publish so many books in such a short period of time to the merits of the city of Denver and the holy Jews who resided here.

Although Rabbi Ginsburg’s works cover several different areas of Jewish law and tradition, it is clear from the introductions to his books that he had one goal.

He expresses concern that Torah teachers of his generation have not adapted their teaching style to fit the needs of their students. Teachers have focused on dry matters of Halachah, but students are not receptive to their style and fail to retain the highly important information that they convey.

He estimates that many Jews have left Judaism because they do not truly understand the Torah’s value system and the morals that it represents.

Additionally, he laments that there are those who are very wise Torah scholars who do not uphold the Torah’s values. They understand the Torah in its depth, but fail to uphold the virtues it preaches.

His way of solving both problems was to weave the ethical values of the Torah into what seems like a dry legal code.

In his terms, he attempts to give future Torah scholars the water to allow them to properly digest the bread that is the Torah. He mixes Aggadah (non-legal exegesis) together with Halachah (law) in an attempt to allow the Torah’s wisdom to penetrate deep into the heart of anyone who reads what he writes.

[dropcap]Rabbi Ginsburg’s first set of books is called Yalkut Yehudah.

It is a six-volume set that covers the five books of the Bible (he wrote two versions of Yalkut Yehuda on Genesis, the second one being significantly more expansive than the first).

He then published a two-volume set called Musar HaMishnah on the first four orders of the Mishnah.

This set is perhaps the purest version of Rabbi Ginsburg’s attempt to glean ethical values from what seems to be a dry legal text.

In his introduction he admits that this is a path that has not been taken by many and he explains that that is why he wasn’t able to successfully mine the ethics out of certain sections of the Mishnah. He encourages others to follow in his footsteps and continue what he has started.

Amid publishing Musar HaMishnah Rabbi Ginsburg also published a single volume called Keser HaShabbos — a collection of several essays on the day of Shabbos.

In it he included his commentaries on Pirkei Avos and Shir Hashirim, two books that are commonly studied on or immediately preceding Shabbos.

The final set of volumes he published is called Musar HaNevi’im, a commentary on the early prophets (the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings).

He intended to continue writing on the later prophets and writings as well (see introduction to volume one of Musar Haneviim), but passed away before he had a chance to do so.

Regarding Yalkut Yehuda on Leviticus, Dr. J. W. Marcus of the Jewish Courier (Chicago June 10, 1934), wrote, “The esteemed author shows in his third volume the same great knowledge of the Talmudic and Midrashic literature as he did in his previous volumes on Genesis and Exodus. He takes the ‘dry’ passages of Torat Cohanim and turns them into golden chains on to which he strings the colorful, sparkling gems that are strewn throughout the Talmuds, Mechilta, Midrashim, Yalkutim, and other writings of our ancient, sublime, religious literature.

“It is desirable, therefore, that our Jewish intelligentsia who find no opportunity to search through the depths of our sea of learning, should peruse the Yalkut Yehudah by Rabbi Ginsburg. They will be fascinated.”

In his last year of life Rabbi Ginsburg was admitted to the JCRS on three occasions. He passed away on 27 Tishrei 5707, or Oct. 22, 1946.

According to a quotation from Libby Rosen (quoted in an article published in the Intermountain Jewish News in 1996), Rabbi Ginsburg’s funeral “went on for blocks and blocks.”

In 1959 a new synagogue was built for congregation Zera Israel in his memory.

Yehi Zichro Boruch — may Rabbi Ginsburg’s memory serve as an eternal blessing.

Several people who assisted me in writing this article. Thank you to Dr. Jeanne Abrams and David Fasman for their assistance in finding information on Rabbi Ginsburg at the Beck Archives in DU. Thank you to Chris Leppek assistant editor of the IJN, for supplying me with Rabbi Ginsburg’s IJN obituary from 1946. Last but certainly not least, I would like to thank my mother for inspiring me to look more into the life and works of Rabbi Ginsburg.

Aaron Brooks is a student at Yeshiva University.