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Rav Tuvia Goldstein 1917- 14 Iyar 2003

R Tuvia Goldstein was born in the town of Waldwa, Poland in 5677 (1917) to HaRav Chaim Meir. His father passed away when Tuvia was still a young boy and he went to live with his grandfather, HaRav Yonah Yehoshua Goldstein ztl. His grandfather on his mothers side was HaRav Dovid Lieberman ztl, the rov of the city of Chelm. Waldwa had been the home of the Bach hundreds of years earlier, and several decades ago the original manuscript of Hagohos HaBach on the Shas was found there. Rav Tuvia Golstein learned in under HaRav Boruch Ber ztl in Kamenitz and HaRav Elchonon Wassermann Hyd in Baranovitch. He was even a member of the Wassermann household for an extended period. His clear thinking and profound sevoros set him apart from the other talmidim. At Baranovitch, he studied in a chaburah with HaRav Nochum Partzovitch ztl, rosh yeshivas Mir, and HaRav Shmuel Birnbaum ztl, rosh yeshivas Mir in the US. Rav Birnbaum said that Rav Tuvia Goldstein became very close with his rebbe at a young age. By the age of 17, Rav Goldstein had already begun to write halachic teshuvos. He continued his studies at Baranovitch until the outbreak of World War II. During World War II, he became a refuge in Vilna. He was captured by the Russians and was sent to Siberia together with a group of bochurim from the yeshiva. He was in Siberia for 5 years with a group of 40 talmidim from his yeshiva. The group of bnei yeshiva were moser nefesh to to limit how much chilul Shabbos they did when they were forced to work. At first, the camp director wanted to kill them. A government official from Moscow arrived at the camp and asked to meet with one of the group before allowing them to be given a death sentence. Rav Goldstein spent almost an hour talking to this official. He said, I am a Jew, and my mother told me I must do everything for Judaism, and I do not want to desecrate the Sabbath. Afte r the official left the meeting he told the camp director not to make the group work on Shabbos because they worked so hard all week. The camp director became afraid that the group had powerful connections with the government in Moscow. He gave them more food and larger rations. He even allowed them to build a succah. It was -40 degrees but the talmidim insisted on building one anyway. After the war ended, Rav Goldstein went to France where he spent two years with HaRav Mordechai Pogremansky ztl. He got a visa to move to the US where he continued to learn with concentration. Rav Goldstein lived in the same building as Moshe Feinstein ztl for almost 15 years. Rav Moshe drew Rav Goldstein close to him. Once Rebbetzin Feinstein woke HaRav

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Goldstein late at night saying HaRav Feinstein wanted him to help render a ruling in a matter of pikuach nefesh. Rav Moshe would give his teshuvos to Rav Goldstein to read since he was familiar with the poskim mentioned. Rav Moshe even writes about some ideas in the Igros Moshe and added, . . . which I heard from my friend, HaGaon Rav Tuvia Goldstein. Rav Tuvia Goldstein became a Rosh Yeshiva in Yeshiva Rabbi Jacob Joseph. Eventually he set up a yeshiva and kollel called Yeshivas Emek Halocho which studied halacha lmaaseh. Rav Goldstein was niftar on 14 Iyar at the age of 86. His levaya started out from New York and he was buried in Eretz Yisrael.

From http://matzav.com/rav-tuvia-goldstein-ztl-on-his-8th-yahrtzeit-today-14-iyar

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