Maran Hagaon Rabbi Michel Yehudah Lefkowitz [1913-2011] was a leader of the Lithuanian "Yeshiva" community. He was a prominent disciple of the Chazon Ish, a member of Degel HaTorah’s Council of Torah Sages, and Rosh Yeshiva of Ponevezh L’Tzeirim. He learned in the Chevron Yeshiva in his youth, and was very close to its Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Yechezkel Sarna, and the Mashgiach, Rabbi Yehuda Leib Chasman. While he learned in the Chevron yeshiva, he enjoyed a close relationship with Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer, regularly attending his lectures on Seder Kadshim, and even learning with him once a week. A short time later, he began studying with the Chazon Ish, who was his matchmaker. After his marriage, he was appointed lecturer in Yeshivat Tiferet Tzion, where his students included Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, Rabbi Nissim Karelitz, Rabbi Meir Tzvi Bergman and Rabbi Dov Tzvi Karlenstein. At times, the Chazon Ish would attend his lectures and listen raptly to his words.
After the Chazon Ish passed away, the lecture moved to a participant’s home where it continued for about fifty years straight. In the beginning of the 1950s, Rabbi Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman founded Yeshiva Ponevezh L’Tzeirim and appointed Rabbi Michel Yehudah at its helm, along with Rabbi Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman. Rabbi Lefkowitz gave lectures for about sixty years and taught thousands of students, including famous rabbis, rosh yeshivas and Torah scholars. He passed away on the 26th of Sivan, 2011, on the yahrtzeit of his father-in-law, Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Gershonowitz.
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