Signature of Rabbi Raphael Mordechai Barishansky (1864-1950).
Lithuanian rabbinical leader.
He studied in the yeshivos of Eishyshok, Mir, Kovno, and Bialystok. Talmid of Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spector of Kovno and Rabbi Shmuel Mohiliver. Served as Chief Rabbi of Homel in Belarus from 1893-1923. Renowned as an eloquent speaker with a reputation for reaching out to young nonobservant Jews and committing them to Jewish practice. Was active on behalf of Jews drafted into Russian army. Supporter of Chovevei Zion and religious Zionism. Attended several World Zionist congresses and opposed the Uganda Plan. He promoted the Mizrachi movement and was opposed to the Agudat Yisrael movement, critiquing the prominent German rabbi Solomon Breuer. In the early 20s he was arrested by the Soviets for opposing communism and sentenced to two years imprisonment.
With the help of several Zionist friends he was released after serving six months and fled to the US in 1924. There he accepted a teaching position in Yeshivas Toras Moshe and became active in the American Mizrachi movement and the Agudath HaRabbanim. He served briefly as a pulpit rabbi in Washington DC from 1926-1929. Afterwards he returned to the Bronx and retired from the rabbinate. He was a frequent contributor to Jewish newspapers on American Jewish life and Zionism.
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Lot #213