Children are the future”— This was the credo Knesset member and community askan Rav Shlomo Lorincz z”l bequeathed to his daughter Rebbetzin Rivka Gurwicz
Rebbetzin Rivka Gurwicz shares a deep commonality with her father, Rav Shlomo Lorincz z”l. Because he was chair of the Knesset Finance Committee, Rabbi Lorincz’s signature appears on millions of banknotes; his thumbprint touched thousands of lives. Yet he rarely spoke about his work in the public arena, stepping back into the shadows and highlighting his interactions with the gedolim to showcase yiras Shamayim and good middos.
Rebbetzin Gurwicz, too, continues to touch countless lives, both at the side of her eminent husband, Rav Chaim Ozer Gurwicz of Gateshead Yeshiva, and in her work of decades training teachers in Gateshead Sem. Talking to her, though, one is struck by her humility and modesty — and the way she continually points away from herself, giving credit to her parents, her teachers, her family for her innumerable achievements.
It may be a discussion in contemporary Jewish society — are askanim born or made? — but as the Wehrmacht rolled across Europe, there was no luxury for academic debates. Askanim were neither born, nor made, but forged by danger and desperation. Certainly this was the case for Budapest-born Rabbi Shlomo Lorincz, a talmid in Mir who was close to Rav Yerucham Levovitz.
Summoned to register at the conscription office just before the outbreak of the war, Rabbi Lorincz prepared for his army medical examination by drinking copious amounts of black coffee and eating nothing. At the end of the examination, he was given a sealed envelope to deliver to the authorities. Outside, Rabbi Lorincz opened the envelope. The letter read: This man’s physical profile is low, but mobilize him anyway.
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