Changing of the Guard

Rav Yehoshua Neuwirth’s wartime memoirs hold the seeds of a Torah empire

Photos: Mishpacha archives, Elchanan Kotler, Mattis Goldberg

Rav Yehoshua Neuwirth ztz”l was most famous for his groundbreaking Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchasah, but from his modest apartment in Bayit Vegan, he ran a yeshivah empire as well, tailored to the needs of a new generation. Today, his son Rav Baruch runs the three “Neuwirth” yeshivos, the roots of which lie in Rav Yehoshua’s own perilous, miraculous salvation so many years ago

“N
euwirth” (in Israel it’s pronounced Noivert) is originally a German-Jewish family name, but in the last half century, it’s become more like an iconic concept woven into the fabric of Jerusalem’s Bayit Vegan neighborhood. “Neuwirth” is the name of the area’s massive loan gemach, and it’s the shechitah and kashrus supervision of most of the stores in these parts. But primarily, Neuwirth is the name of a Torah and halachah empire.

There are in fact three “Neuwirth” yeshivos — officially the names are the Pnei Shmuel yeshivah ketanah, Chochmas Shlomo yeshivah gedolah, and Nesivos Chochmah — also known as “Wolfson” for the name of its co-rosh yeshivah Rav Daniel Wolfson — which in the ten years since its inception has jumped from 60 to close to 800 talmidim, with many more clamoring to get in every zeman.

As I attempted to pin down Rav Baruch Neuwirth, the rosh yeshivah of all three of these institutions, I encountered the most difficult obstacle — his schedule. One Yid heading three different yeshivos. Two of them are called “Neuwirth,” one is called “Wolfson” — but that doesn’t remove both the spiritual and financial burdens of the institution from his shoulders.